


A Christmas at Longbourne

by aparticularbandit



Series: A Christmas at Longbourne: The Extended Edition [1]
Category: Jane the Virgin (TV)
Genre: F/F, Inspired by Hallmark Christmas Movies, Maybe - Freeform, THAT IS ACTUALLY ALREADY A TAG, eventually, huzzah, only this is a little bit more racy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-05-31 16:40:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 73,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19429969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aparticularbandit/pseuds/aparticularbandit
Summary: After her girlfriend breaks up with her (and trust me, that statement feels wrong to her, too) and her hotel turns out to be overbooked, Rose is sent to Longbourne for her Christmas vacation, where she meets a super attractive hotel owner and her rambunctious daughter.  But snow and Christmas shenanigans are a long cry from the sun and beach that she'd wanted.  Can she let down her walls enough to have fun, and will she fall for the hotel owner with the slightly sketchy past?  Or will she stay grumpy and upset and leave all alone with no one the wiser?  (And even if she /does/ fall for the hotel owner, will the hotel owner fall for her?)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> SO IT BEGINS.
> 
> ...and by begins I mean I started this in December or November so like. I hope this lives up to the hype, y'all.

“Beautiful.”

Rose stood just outside the concert hall, fluffy black gloves covering her freckle-covered hands, little puffs of white clouds forming with her breath. She stepped forward, arms wrapping around her girlfriend’s thin waist, and she tugged her forward. “Absolutely beautiful.”

The other redhead _huffed_ at her words. “You say that at the end of _every_ concert.”

“That doesn’t make it any less _true_.” Rose glanced from the other woman’s brightly painted lips to the rouge of her cheeks to the deep ocean blue of her eyes. “ _You’re_ beautiful,” she pulled her closer, “the _music_ is beautiful,” she pressed a kiss to her cheek, “the crowd _watching you_ is beautiful,” she brushed her nose against the other woman’s, ignoring how red it was from the cold, “need I go on?”

“No.” Heidi stepped back, pushing at the arms around her waist until they fell away. She walked past her girlfriend, brushing the snow from her milk maid dress, the green apron, the white sleeves, the short skirt. Some of the snow was real, falling from the clouds above them as they spoke, and some of it was fake, left all over her from her earlier performance. “In fact, I would prefer you stopped there.”

Her German accent was thicker when she was mad.

“Is something wrong, dear?”

Rose slipped into sweet pet names when _she_ was mad, and despite her voice being soft and gentle, the underlying venom stood out to the other woman, even more so by the clunk of her boots through snow that should have softened their sound.

“This is – how do you say – it feels a little _old_.” Heidi stopped a few feet away, crossing her arms under her chest. “I have a concert and you wait for me to come out and you tell me I’m beautiful and then we go back to our hotel and—”

“—we have _amazing_ sex—”

“—yes, _that_ , but it’s the same. _Every time._ ”

The snow fell on her thick blue patterned scarf, sticking to it and staying without thawing. Rose’s breath continued to crystalize in the air as she stepped forward, voice hushed and confused. “Are you trying to say that I’m… _boring_ you?”

It hung in the air between them – that _word_ – and it left its bitter taste on Rose’s tongue. _Boring._ She refused to step any closer to her girlfriend, her hands clenching into tight little fists inside her fluffy black gloves.

“Yes.”

It was one of the few _good_ things about Heidi – her refusal to hesitate when she’d made a decision – and now she turned to face Rose, her cheeks turning red in the cold. “I think that it’s time that we end,” one hand lifted, moved back and forth between her and the other redhead, “ _this_. Whatever this is.”

Rose’s jaw clenched, her teeth gritting together, but she tried to grin. “You’re sure you want to say that _before_ the amazing sex?”

Heidi’s face flushed a deep red – this time not from the cold – and Rose took a sense of joy from that. At least she could still embarrass her. “We could have…what is it the Americans call it in their absurd little shows – the break-up sex. And there’s also the _one last time_ sex.”

Rose grinned and stepped forward to bridge the gap between them. She brought up one hand, brushed her gloved fingers along Heidi’s exposed collarbone, and gave a brief sigh. Her head tilted forward just enough so that her teeth could graze against the other woman’s earlobe. Heidi shivered under her touch. Then Rose whispered, “ _No._ ”

She stepped away, leaving Heidi shivering. “Bold of you to assume I would _want_ that.” Not that Rose wouldn’t enjoy it – there was something to be said about the appeal – but when the woman _breaking up with her_ suggested it? Not bloody likely. “Besides, why would you want more of _boring_?”

Rose didn’t see Heidi move after her as she walked away, but she didn’t need to either. The regularity of their relationship had been slowly choking her as well. She just would have had the gall to wait until _after_ the sex. No point in jeopardizing that just because she had no intention of staying longer. If anything, the only part of the whole situation that bothered her was that Heidi said something first.

As she sat down in her little rental car, Rose made sure her plane ticket still sat in the passenger seat, glancing over it once before driving away. She wasn’t in the market for anyone new; if anything, a hotel around the holidays would be good for women who were finding themselves frustrated with families and the downside of their vacation. Well, she’d made a living being the _fun little secret_ of miserable families.

And she had no intention of stopping that now.

* * *

But, as fate (or something else) would have it, being the _fun little secret_ was not in the cards for her this year.

Rose stood at the counter in the hotel lobby, her arms crossed about her. She’d been standing there so long already that she’d stopped tapping her foot, and while she _wished_ there were a line of other unhappy customers waiting behind her, there’d been another hotel clerk to take care of them while hers looked into her particularHeidi situation. She leaned back against the counter and faced outward, eyes scanning the bright happy blue of the Miami-based hotel. It felt far too cheery for mid-December, but she didn’t question her choice of location. She’d grown up near mountains with tons of snow, and after a break-up – even one she’d anticipated – being in a warm, cozy cabin with a mug of hot chocolate crowned with marshmallows and curled up under blankets in front of a fireplace while she could see the snow drifting slowly down just outside her window—

That was for couples. It wasn’t for someone like her. Not on her own.

It would feel… _lonely_.

And the entire point of this excursion was to _not_ feel lonely. Even if she was sitting alone in a hotel room in the middle of Miami, Rose wouldn’t feel _lonely_. All she’d have to do was change into a bathing suit – incredibly revealing, of course, as per her usual – and lounge by a pool or on the beach with an ample amount of sunscreen to make sure she didn’t burn a shade as bright – or brighter – than a lobster. Or maybe she’d find one of the many nearby girl bars and hook up with someone there. It was nearing Christmas, after all. There were sure to be women looking for someone to keep their bed warm while they avoided family who wanted nothing to do with them anymore (or family who didn’t know the truth and wouldn’t know how to react if they did).

Her fingers rapped against the counter – once, twice, three times – and she turned back to see the computer that had been left open and alone while her clerk went to go find _yet another_ superior. His manager hadn’t been able to help her either. At this point, they had to be looking for the hotel owner himself – who _must_ be busy, given the time of year.

Rose looked around her and, seeing no one who would care enough to do or say anything about it, slowly began to turn the computer screen to face her—

“Ms. Clement?”

Rose hastily stopped her movements and turned just enough to face a man who appeared to be all too charismatic and charming. Most women might be cowed by his sheer aura. He had that whole _rich young man with a good physique and nice hair_ thing going for him – like a male swimsuit model, which, given their location, probably worked out really well for him.

But not on her.

“Yes?” Rose said, her voice soft, head tilting ever so slightly to one side so that the waves of her red hair fell just so along her shoulder. Just because _she_ wasn’t interested in _him_ didn’t mean that _his_ potential interest in _her_ couldn’t work in her favor. So long as he didn’t turn out to be a real creep.

“I’m Rafael Solano. I own the hotel.” The man clasped his hands together. “I heard we were having a little bit of a problem with your room.”

“The one I paid for months in advance? Yes,” Rose replied, her voice low, “I know.”

She might as well not have said anything at all for the way the owner continued without any look of chagrin. “It seems we have overbooked.”

“That’s what the clerk told me.” Rose leaned her head on one hand and gave the hotel owner a rough stare – one that was rougher than normal given her exhaustion from hours on a plane and the oncoming jetlag. “But I don’t think that’s any way to treat one of your customers.” She paused and then continued, very carefully, “Your _paying_ customers.”

“I can’t kick out any of the people who are already here, Ms. Clement.”

Rose might have believed him – _might_ – if he seemed to show an ounce of regret for her situation. Instead, his face was carefully crafted into one of those expressions that refused to be of any use to anyone. Posing for a picture. Anticipating an attack. Defending his actions. _All of the above._

“Then what would you have me do, Rafael?” Rose intentionally used his first name so as to make him uncomfortable. It was petty, to be sure, but given her own lineage, she didn’t particularly care. It was a hotel owner’s duty to take care of their customers first and foremost, and when they slacked on his duty, as Rafael was doing now, then they deserved absolutely no respect from her. Besides, he’d _given_ her his first name, hadn’t he? So why shouldn’t she feel free to use it?

Rose hummed a sad tone, lips falling into what she knew was a cute little pout – a tactic she’d used far too many times to think it would do her any disservice here. “I’m sure all of the other hotels are booked, too.”

“There is one,” the male hotel owner said, raising his finger. “When any of the hotels around here have overbooked this time of year, we send our customers there.”

“So you’re saying this is a _frequent_ problem?” Rose asked, curiosity masking the frustration in her tone. When Rafael didn’t say anything and his expression didn’t change, she sighed. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing,” Rafael said a little too quickly for her liking. “It’s just a little further from the beach than most of our customers would like.”

“Myself included.”

“As I’ve said, there isn’t anything I can do about that right now, Ms. Clement.” Rafael gestured to the bags standing next to her. “We can send you there and cover any bills you have from the hotel, or you can take a refund and find somewhere else to stay for your vacation.”

 _Find somewhere else to stay_ as if they hadn’t already discussed how _every hotel_ within a _reasonable_ distance was already fully booked. Rose wondered, briefly, if this _other hotel_ was on a rotation – that one was picked as the bum hotel each year for potential random customers or overbooking issues – but there was no way that was the case. With booking filling up hotels months in advance, any hotel owner worth their salt would be absolutely _crazy_ to give up definite customers for only potential ones with no assurances they would have any at all.

“What’s the address?” Rose asked, her teeth gritting together. She couldn’t – _wouldn’t_ – adequately voice her displeasure here and now, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t find some way to deal with this hotel owner and his _overbooking_ mistake, especially given that he’d indicated this was not the first time it had happened – even if it _was_ something that happened with other hotels in the area.

Given enough research, her stepmother should have more than enough ammo to go to war over this.

* * *

Morning shone bright over Longbourne. The sun hit the waves as it crested the boughs of the trees surrounding its lake, sending glimmers across the little town’s primary draw. Even in the winter, with snow covering the treetops and more feet of it piled high on the ground, there wasn’t much to draw tourists to the few houses surrounding the lake, to the inn resting just on the edge of the town. In the summer, the lake was much better – fishing, water skiing, swimming – and at night the hopeful luminescence of the creatures dwelling within, but in the winter, the only draw was holiday tradition. And while Longbourne _could_ be said to have a lot of that, it wasn’t as flashing or booming as other towns, nor did it have the same appeal for snowboarding or sledding the same way cabins tucked away in the mountains did. All in all, the little town was quiet during the holidays, full of families visiting their loved ones who lived there, and that was just the way they liked it.

“Mama, mama!”

A little girl with bright red hair and an emerald green knitted cap came running through the front door of Longbourne’s primary inn, boots clunking on the wooden floor as she tracked snow and water behind her. When there wasn’t any reply, she ran to the front desk, which was so tall she could just barely peer over the counter, and she jumped up, using her arms to pull herself over the top to see if there was anyone behind it. No one there! She fell back with a loud thunk as her boots hit the floor and wiped the back of her hand against her bright red nose. Her face was still pale from the cold, making the freckles dusting her cheeks stand out even brighter. She pressed her lips together, biting on her lip, and looked around the empty main room.

Oh!

The girl ran back to the front door, ignoring the wet footprints she’d left behind, and sat at the front door to pull her boots off. She stuck her mittens into her neon bright coat pockets and then hung the coat on the stand just inside the door. Then she sniffled once, pulling on the ends of her oversized forest green sweater, and ran to the basement stairs.

“Mama?” she called through the open door. Normally it was locked shut to keep her from exploring, but now it was open wide with bright lights shining down on a rickety staircase. “Are you down there?”

“Mia, you stay up there!” a woman’s voice shouted from below. “I’ll be—” and there was a sharp grunt “—right up!” The woman appeared around one corner of the stairs, hoisting a huge plastic red tub with a green top.

“Do you need help with that?”

“No!” She set the tub down on one of the stairs, wiping the strands of brown hair that had pulled themselves out of her messy bun out of her face and tucking them behind one ear. Then she took a deep breath, wide eyes meeting her daughter’s, and she grinned. “Okay, okay,” she said, waving the girl forward with one hand, “you can help. This thing is so _big_ and _heavy_ that I need _all_ of your massive strength to get it up there!”

Mia giggled and stumbled down the first few stairs. She grabbed onto one of the corners.

“On the count of three! One, two, _three_!”

They lifted the huge tub together! Mia could feel the plastic edges digging into her fingertips, but she kept a tight grip on the edge, walking slowly backward up the last three stairs. “Okay,” her mama said, “now just drop the edge on the floor there, and I can push—!”

Mia dropped the edge just like her mama told her, but then she sat on the top of the tub. She giggled again as her mama gave a loud _oomph!_ sound and kept giggling when she seemed to collapse on the floor once the tub finally made it all the way up. After a few seconds of listening to her mother’s heavy breathing, Mia crawled to the other end and laid flat on top of the tub, peering over the edge. Her mama looked up with a final, deep sigh. “No more basement trips.”

“No more basement trips,” Mia echoed with a solemn nod.

Her mama squinted, and she bit on her lower lip as she looked back to the stairwell. “Except for more Christmas decorations.”

“More decorations,” Mia echoed again.

Her mama looked back with that same worried expression. “But _first_ ,” and she heaved forward, pushing the tub.

It went **nowhere**.

Mia giggled again. “Mama’s _weak_.”

“I’ll show you weak!” The woman gave another grunt and moved into a crouch. Then, with a huge inhale, she began to push the tub with her daughter on top of it, slow at first, and then faster as she kept going, until the tub _whooshed_ as she pushed it into the main common room area. When she stopped, she fell back on her butt, hands flat on the floor. “Now,” she said, finally, between heavy breaths, “you,” she gasped, “wanted to tell me,” another gasp, “something?”

“Yeah!” Mia exclaimed as she propelled herself off of the plastic tub. “There was a woman outside who looked _just like me_!”

Her mama froze while lifting the green lid from the red tub. She swallowed once. “What?”

“A woman! Who looked like _me_!”

As Mia was speaking, the bell over the front door tingled pleasantly, and a bright grin split her face. “It’s her!” she said in a hush before even seeing who had entered. “It _has_ to be! She’s gonna stay here with us!”

Her mother didn’t correct her, but she stood up slowly, brushing her dirty hands against her tan yoga pants. “Can you unpack this for me?” she asked, placing the tub’s lid on the floor next to it. Inside the tub were tons and tons of Christmas lights for decorating the windows of the hotel, their cords all tangled together. “And maybe straighten them out?”

“ _Mama_ , I don’t _want_ to play with the lights, I wanna—”

“ _Hush_ ,” her mama said, her voice a whisper. “If you do a really good job, we’ll go to Dee’s for hot chocolate and cookies afterward. Sound good?”

Mia pouted until her mama tugged down on her emerald green knitted cap, then she swatted at her mama’s arms. “I’ll get them, I’ll get them, I got it!” But for all her exclamations, the only thing she got as an immediate reward was a kiss on her cheek, which she wiped off as soon as she could. “ _Yuck!_ ”

Then there was another _ding_ , this time of the bell at the front of the desk, and Mia pushed her mama forward. “Go! She looks _just like me_!”

The woman stepped away from her daughter. She could see the redheaded woman her daughter had mentioned as she went to the front desk, and she pasted a huge grin on her face as she stepped behind the desk. “Sorry about the wait,” she said with her bright smile. “My daughter and I were just starting to pull out the Christmas decorations.”

“The week before?”

“Yeah. It’s been _so busy_ with school and the holidays that we just didn’t have time until _right this second_.” Her smile didn’t drop as she continued, but her gaze did, focusing on the sign in sheet as she flipped it to a new page. “I take it you’ll be wanting a room, right? That _is_ why you’re here?”

“ _Yes._ ” The redhead’s bright blue eyes focused on her, jaw clenching tightly. “The other hotels were all full, so they sent me _here_.”

There was a flicker of understanding that passed behind the hotel owner’s eyes and a slight scowl of disbelief. “I told him not to do this again.”

“Well, you _telling them_ didn’t _fix things_.”

The hotel owner sighed. “Luisa Alver,” she finally said, holding out a hand. “My name, not anything _really_ important, but you were probably looking to avoid all of the winter holiday fun by spending it under the hot Miami sun and,” she looked up, meeting the redhead’s eyes with a discontented look, “you probably booked months ahead of time, because you seem like the type, and the hotel owner told you they just decided to sell your room for a higher price because they had somewhere there right that minute and they were tired of waiting on you, even though you’d flown from all over the world to get there. Right?”

“I just want a room,” the redhead said, ignoring Luisa’s outstretched hand. “It’s been a very long day, and right now, all I want to do is sleep.”

“Jetlag?”

“No.” The woman’s jaw tightened again. “Just tired.”

“Right, right.” Luisa tapped the sign-in sheet with two fingers. “Just put your name there and a phone number where I can—”

“You want me to put my phone number in a log where anyone who signs in can see it?”

“Well, no, but—”

“You have a spot for phone numbers right there.”

“Well, _yes_ , but—”

“Doesn’t that seem like a _bit_ of an oversight, given our day and age?”

“Well, _yes_ , but—”

“But what?”

“ _If you would just let me finish_ ,” Luisa said, her voice strained. But she didn’t snap. She maintained her composure as a very good customer service employee, ran a hand through the untidy strands of her dirty brown hair, and sighed. “We don’t get very many customers here in the winter.”

“I can see that.”

Luisa sighed again. “Sign here,” she said, tapping the sign-in sheet again. Then she pulled a sheet of paper from the back desk and turned back, handing it to the redhead. “Put your contact information here.” She turned away again, going through the keys to determine which room would be best. “The cost of the room is—”

“I don’t care about the cost,” the redhead said as she put her name and number on the separate sheet. “I just want a room.” She pulled a green bill out of her pocket and placed it on the counter. “This should pay for now. Let me know when you need another one.”

“That’s not really how this—” Luisa started to say as she turned around with a key to the biggest room they had. She couldn’t say whether she’d chosen that room because it was big or because it was on the top floor and there was no elevator and she wanted to be petty. Maybe a little bit of both.

“I’m Rose, by the way,” the redhead said, “if you couldn’t read from the signature.”

Luisa opened her mouth to say that she could read cursive _fairly well_ , given that the newer classes didn’t really teach it anymore and the art was being lost in the big cities, but she could tell that the woman’s voice was suddenly more than a little bit softer. She took a deep breath, holding the key in hand a little longer. It seemed like the other woman – _Rose_ – was finally actually paying attention to her as a person instead of as…whatever she’d been doing before.

“I’m Luisa,” she said again, hesitant. “Most of our rooms are empty, so you can pick whichever one you want. I thought you might prefer our biggest room; it’s more of a honeymoon suite – king-sized bed, fireplace, even a little kitchenette, if you want – but it’s on the third floor, so if you have a lot of heavy luggage….” She kept waiting for Rose to interrupt, and her voice faded away when she found that the other woman seemed to be listening intently to her.

“Is that the room you would take?”

Luisa shook her head. “No. Absolutely not. My daughter and I live here, right down that hall,” she pointed to a hall that led away from the common area, “and we have more than enough room there.”

“If you were staying as a customer, not as the….” Rose stopped. “You _live_ here? Employees live in the hotel here?”

“The owner does.”

“Ah.” Rose’s lips pursed into a tight-lipped smile, and she nodded once, brushing fingers along her forehead. “The owner. You’re the owner.” She rested her head on her fingertips. “I’m sorry for the rudeness, I—”

“—thought I was just the desk clerk.” Luisa handed the key over. “Take the big room. I’ll help you carry your luggage.”

“You really don’t have to do that.”

Luisa shrugged as she walked out from behind the front counter. “No, but it’s a nice gesture. Hotel owner, small town, we’re _big_ on nice gestures around here. Besides, it’s cold and snowy, and you,” she turned back, smiling at the redhead’s pale, freckled face, “probably get really cold really easily. Gives you a red nose and makes your freckles stand out, right?”

“How did you—?”

“Mia!” Luisa shouted, and her daughter came running immediately into the main room.

The little redhead looked from her mother to Rose and back again, grinning. “ _Just like me_ ,” she whispered again. “Didn’t I tell you, Mama? She looks just like me!”

Luisa nodded once, tapping her daughter’s nose with the tip of one finger. “She does. Just like you.” She turned back to Rose and seemed to wince. “Lead us to your car, and if you don’t have too much, we should be able to get everything up in one trip. Just point us in the right direction.”

It wasn’t until they were halfway up the stairs, all three of them carrying something – Mia carrying what appeared to be a cardboard box – that Luisa said, voice cheerful, “And, since you think we’ve waited so long to put up Christmas decorations, you are free to come help us. We’ll still have a tree to pick out tomorrow, and _trust me_ ,” she continued, the cheer not dropping from her voice as the reached Rose’s room, “you haven’t lived until you’ve had hot chocolate and cookies at Dee’s.”

“Haven’t lived,” Rose echoed with a grim expression that couldn’t quite be read. “Sounds _wonderful_.”


	2. Chapter 2

First of all, Rose wanted it to be known that she did not want to be here. She did not want to be in a little town in the middle of nowhere full of happy little families and no other real visitors over the holidays. She didn’t dare hope that there would be more people at this inn by the end of the week; she knew better than to think that the few residents would have so many people that they would overflow into a place like this. People in small towns housed their relatives even if they didn’t have room for them. They _made_ room.

At least, that was her experience.

Rose stretched out on the king-sized bed with a great yawn, toes touching underneath piles of covers and fingers touching above her head. The room was clearly meant for more than one person – her luggage hadn’t even half-filled the chest of drawers or the closet, and the “small kitchenette” that the hotel owner had mentioned was big enough for Rose to have made her own bacon and eggs in the morning or fill the fridge with all kinds of food if she’d wanted. She _didn’t_ want because she didn’t particularly like cooking, but it still seemed as though this honeymoon suite was meant for a couple who wanted to spend the entire time to themselves.

The fire roared in the fireplace. It was a nice counterpoint to the snow outside and the frost coating the window panes. She’d intentionally slept through the light knocking on her door earlier that morning – likely the hotel owner or her kid inviting her to…something or other, as though she had a reason to be here or they could give her one. But she couldn’t stay in bed all day; even now, Rose could feel her stomach grumbling. She hadn’t been able to eat on her flight to the states – she’d taken pills to fight her motion sickness and survived primarily on bottles of ginger ale – and by the time she’d arrived, she’d been far too exhausted to do much more than unpack and tumble into bed to sleep.

There was another knock on the door as the fire finally died down, and Rose ran a hand through her tangled red curls before finally answering it, not even considering that she hadn’t changed out of her pajamas or taken the time to get ready to greet the day yet and likely not caring if she had. She expected the attractive hotel owner to be standing on the other side of the door, but when at first she didn’t see anyone, her gaze moved lower and she saw the owner’s redheaded child standing at the door.

The girl looked Rose up and down with wide eyes, and she pointed at one of the character designs on Rose’s tank-top, just touching the edge of her shirt. “Who’s that?”

Rose followed her gaze, considered her shirt, and then said with a tight-lipped smile, “None of your business.” She crouched down so that she was eye level with the little girl. “What do you want, squirt?”

“My name’s _Mia_ , not squirt.”

“I know it’s not—” Rose took a deep breath through her nostrils before repeating, “What do you want, _Mia_?”

Mia shuffled her feet and looked away. “Mom and I have been decorating all day and we’re going to get cookies and hot chocolate and I _told her_ you were probably hungry because you’ve been up here _all day_ and you skipped breakfast and _I’m_ always _super_ hungry when I don’t eat breakfast so you can come with us if you want.” Every now and again as she spoke, the words tumbling forward like a waterfall, Mia’s eyes flicked up to Rose and then just as quickly away again. She took a huge breath as she finished, visibly relaxing.

“Is that why you knocked on my door earlier?” Rose asked, reaching over and ruffling her hand through the little girl’s curls. “You were checking to see if I wanted breakfast?”

Mia nodded, her face turning red. “We had bacon and eggs and biscuits with honey and Mom made enough for you because that’s what good inn owners do. She even brought a huge tray up for you if you didn’t want to go down but you never answered.”

“Uh-huh,” Rose murmured, gaze growing unfocused. Making breakfast for your customers – _yes_ , that was what good hotel owners did – but bringing it all the way up to the third floor for a _breakfast in bed_ scenario? Not so much. She gave a slow nod as she considered, beginning to grin, and then gave the girl a curious look. “Do you want to help me figure out what to wear?” she asked. “I’m not in towns like this very often, and I wouldn’t want to wear anything that would be too…cold.”

“Mom says I’m not supposed to go into strange customers’ rooms by myself,” Mia said, blinking a lot, “but!” Then she turned without finishing, took another deep breath, and ran down the stairs.

Okay. _That_ was weird.

Rose shut the door behind her and began to go through the clothes she’d hung up in the closet before there was another knock on her door. Her eyes narrowed a bit, but she went to answer it anyway. “ _Mia_ , that isn’t enough time for me to have—” She opened the door, and her eyes fairly sparkled. “ _Oh_.”

The attractive hotel owner – Luisa. Rose remembered, through a foggy head, that her name was Luisa – was on the other side of the door with Mia standing just behind her with a big grin on her face. “Mia said you needed help figuring out what to wear?” she asked and grinned as she took in Rose’s black tank-top and plaid flannel pajama pants. “Nice.”

“Thank you.”

“Fan of Ripley?” Luisa asked, nodding towards the woman on Rose’s shirt.

“I spent half of my life wanting to be an astronaut because of her.” Rose tilted her head to one side. “ _Mostly_ because of her.”

“Mostly?”

“ _Han Solo._ ” Rose held the door open and gestured for the woman and her child to come inside before shutting the door behind them. “I was totally in love with him growing up.” Her eyes lit up. “Or, at least, I _said_ I was. Mostly I just wanted to _be_ him. Pilot the ship. Hang out with a Wookie. Kiss the princess.” She paused halfway to her closet, not really looking at either of them. “That’s not going to be a problem in this little town, is it? My wanting to kiss the princess instead of wanting to _be_ the princess?” she asked, not questioning whether this discussion should be something Mia should hear. “Or should I not bring that up?”

Not that she wouldn’t bring it up. She would. Loudly. Probably more than she would have if it were more accepted. Nothing bothered her more than being in a town full of people who liked to pretend that women like her didn’t exist, and it would be ten times worse given that she hadn’t wanted – and still _didn’t_ want – to be here in the first place, had meant to be spending her holidays in Miami hooking up with people just like her.

“You’re with me,” the hotel owner said, her voice soft, “so you can bring it up as often as you like.”

Rose stopped in front of her open closet and turned back at the soft admittance. She met the other woman’s eyes, searching them curiously, but didn’t see anything hidden in their dark depths. Indeed, as soon as she met her eyes, Luisa patted her daughter’s back. “Why don’t you go downstairs and watch the front desk for me?”

“ _Mama_ ,” Mia groaned, turning immediately to face her mother, pouting. “I want to stay and help pick out clothes!”

“But what will we do if someone shows up?” Luisa asked, bending down to her daughter’s eye level, hands on her knees. “Who’s going to let me know if they need help?”

“Me. I guess.” Mia’s pout deepened, and she turned to face Rose, her hands clenched into tight little balls. “Wear something nice! But not fancy. No one’s ever fancy at Dee’s. Not even for the Christmas Ball.”

“Not even for the Christmas Ball, huh?” Rose replied, slowly starting to grin.

“ _Mia_ ,” Luisa said insistently. “Downstairs.”

“I’m going, I’m going!”

And then Mia was gone, shutting the door as she left. Rose could hear her feet shuffling down the stairs, slowly fading as she got further away from them.

“So,” Luisa said, snapping back up and clapping her hands together with a bright smile, “Mia said you needed help picking out clothes?”

“Yes,” Rose said, and she waved Luisa over to her closet. “I packed for… _not here_ , and I wasn’t sure what would be best.” She stopped abruptly, placed her hands on her hips, and grinned. “I _could_ pick out an outfit for myself, but I thought it would be fun to let her play around with it.” Then she stepped back and watched as Luisa brushed through her clothes, fingers pausing on shirts or suit jackets. “Although I guess it’s just as fun for _you_ to play around with it.”

Luisa continued as though she didn’t hear the last bit, and after a few minutes of examination, she looked back over her shoulder. “I don’t know _what_ you were packing for, but all of this is far too fancy to go out to Dee’s. Do you have anything else?”

“I threw some clothes in there before I fell asleep.” Rose nodded to the chest of drawers right next to the closet. “A lot less _fancy_.”

Luisa moved over to the chest of drawers, and she paused. It was then that Rose remembered her little cardboard box where it sat atop the drawers. She moved over quickly just as Luisa reached out to trace a finger along the cardboard. “There’s nothing to wear in that.”

“No?” Luisa asked as Rose moved away from the drawers with the box and returned to her bed.

“No.” Rose held the box against her chest and then placed it on top of the furthest bedside table. “It’s just some old bits and pieces of things I wanted to bring with me. Personal stuff. Nothing important.”

“You don’t have to explain that to me.” Luisa turned back and crouched down to begin scavenging through the drawers, starting with the one at the very top. Rose waited for her to pause or to slam the door in shame as soon as she opened it, but Luisa seemed to be frozen in place. She didn’t move at all. Then her fingers began to browse through the offerings there before pulling out a pair of black silk and lace panties. “This.”

Rose’s brows shot up.

It didn’t take long for Luisa to find the matching bra – more lace than silk, other than the large X covering each cup – _X marks the spot, after all_ – and laid it out with the panties. “And this.”

“Those aren’t too fancy?” Rose crooned, leaning back on the bed, propping herself up with her arms behind her. “Or does it not matter if no one else sees them?”

Luisa looked back over her shoulder, her bright smile suddenly _smug_. “ _I’ll_ know.”

“Mmmmmm.” Rose nodded once. “That’s a good reason to wear something else instead. I don’t know you that well.”

“What’s to know? You won’t be staying more than two weeks,” Luisa said, turning back to the dresser. She shut the top drawer and pulled open the one underneath it. “I’m sure you’ll be bored if you don’t have someone to play with. You didn’t pack for here, you packed for somewhere bigger – with more women, I’m sure – and here you only have me.”

“I could have any woman in the town, if I wanted them.”

Luisa glanced back again. “You haven’t met the women in the town. Trust me, you don’t want them.” She turned back. “Or maybe it’s just me. _I_ don’t want them. They keep trying to set me up with every second cousin or third son, and while I love their enthusiasm, it gets tiring saying _no_ all the time. And of the few women who _do_ seem to get it, the only one who’s interested is…complicated.” This time, she pulled out a pair of jeans, ones that Rose knew from experience would hug tight against her skin. “It’d be nice if—” She shook her head before pulling out a flannel shirt and a top so light that it would show off the barest hint of the black bra beneath it.

“I’ll want a coat with that,” Rose said, nodding towards the current outfit. “It is _far_ too cold and snowy for me to only be wearing that.”

“And boots.” Luisa pointed towards the closet without turning back. “The fuzzy black ones.”

“…the boots with the fur?”

“You said it, not me,” Luisa said, but she couldn’t keep her voice from being light or the little laugh that followed. “They’ll keep your feet warmer in this weather than the others, especially since we’ll be walking.”

‘We’re _walking_?” Rose asked, surprised. “In this cold?”

“It’s not snowing,” Luisa said, rolling back on her knees before standing and placing the stack of clothes next to Rose on the bed, the lace and silk underwear set lying on top. “Everything is in walkable distance. You’ll be just fine. And,” she continued, “there’s hot chocolate and cookies at the end of the journey.” Her smile was almost as warm as the fireplace had been. “We can show you around town, too. Let you see all of those wonderful women you’re certain you can woo.”

“I don’t know about that.” Rose leaned forward, closer towards the other woman. “What if I only want to woo one of you?”

Luisa took a deep breath, gaze wandering, then shook herself and patted the stack of clothes. “Put these on first, and then we’ll see.” She winked once as she pushed herself back from the bed, dusting her hands together. “And I’ll see if I have something more fancy to wear. You should have an occasion to wear some of those other clothes.”

“They’re not too fancy?”

“For Dee’s?” Luisa asked with a laugh. “ _Yes_. But you’d be surprised. We have some nice places around here, too, and Mia’s wrong about the Christmas Ball. Those would fit right in.” She placed one hand on her hip. “We might be country bumpkins, but when the time is right, we _do_ like our fancy.”

“I didn’t peg you as bumpkins. Just out in the middle of nowhere.”

“Well, thank you,” Luisa said with another nod in Rose’s direction. “But you should get dressed or Dee’s is going to be full. Everybody wants hot chocolate on a cold winter’s day, and while we might avoid some of the rush, there’s normally a second one around tea time, and we want to avoid that, too.”

“ _Tea time?_ ” Rose said, her voice incredulous. “You have tea time here?”

Luisa shrugged as she opened the door. “You said it yourself – we’re in the middle of nowhere. What else are we going to do with all of our free time?” Then she smiled. “Get changed. We’ll be waiting for you downstairs.” She shut the door behind her as she left.

Rose looked over the outfit Luisa had picked for her and shook her head with a slowly spreading grin. _Gay_ was the only thing she could think of. The hotel owner was _very, very gay_.

* * *

Rose straightened her thick winter coat over her flannel shirt – not the only one she had, but the one Luisa had picked, a soft red and black and white plaid that could barely be seen beneath the coat with its faux fox fur collar lining – as she clunked down the stairs, her black boots _with the fur_ loud on the hardwood floor. They weren’t the best boots as far as not slipping was concerned, as she knew from far too many times wearing them with Heidi on far too many icy surfaces (or even just _tile_ ), but they were far better at keeping her feet warm. Luisa had pegged them correctly for that. And, of course, her skinny jeans tucked nicely into them.

Appropriate for a nice time out with a hotel owner and her daughter of questionably unknown age.

And if said hotel owner knew what she was wearing underneath and could catch glimpses if she looked hard enough?

Appropriate for _flirting_ with the _attractive_ hotel owner who was kindly choosing to show her about the town. A reward for being oh so kind…and an indication of possible _other_ rewards if she _continued_ to be oh so kind.

Provided, of course, that the kid was nowhere in sight.

Mia ran to Rose as soon as she made it down the stairs then stopped abruptly in front of her. Her head tilted to one side, eyes examining her, and then she frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Rose asked, one brow raising.

“You look normal,” Mia said with a pout. “I thought you’d wear another shirt with characters on it and then maybe I’d know whoever that one was and then we could talk about it.”

“Well,” Rose started to say, eyes flicking up briefly to meet Luisa’s where the hotel owner stood in front of the hotel’s front doors then returning completely to Mia, giving the girl her full attention, “your mom picked this outfit. I’m sure it would have been something entirely different if _you’d_ chosen what I should wear.”

“Would’ve been _better_ ,” Mia said as she turned and strode back over to her mom. “You’re really bad at this.”

“Hm.” Luisa made a noncommittal noise, although to Rose it sounded _appraising_. “I guess you’re right.” She winked at Rose before her lips contorted into an exaggerated frown. “We’re going to have to show her some better clothes for you to choose from, then, won’t we?”

Mia’s eyes lit up. “We’re going shopping?”

“If Rose wants.” Luisa looked back over to Rose just as Mia turned towards her.

Now, _that_ wasn’t fair. Not in Rose’s mind, anyway. She’d agreed to hot chocolate and food (and possibly cookies) at Dee’s – whatever sort of restaurant or café that ended up being in this tiny little town – but she hadn’t quite decided on seeing the _rest_ of the town yet. Especially not if they were walking!

But Mia glanced up at her with big bright brown eyes almost as wide as Luisa’s could be and with a huge grin on her face. “You _want_ to go shopping, right?” she asked in that excited voice of hers, and Rose—

Well. She was _very good_ at saying _no_ , actually.

“We’ll see,” she said instead, ignoring Mia’s immediate pout and giving Luisa a dark look once the girl turned around back to her mother. Rose followed Mia forward with a deep breath, clasping her gloved hands together. It was the one bit of clothing Luisa _hadn’t_ picked out for her, and while she had other options, she’d chosen fuzzy purple mitts with blue tipped fingers just to entertain Luisa’s daughter. She’d left her hair down because she expected Luisa would prefer that, but now she topped it with a matching fuzzy purple hat with a little blue pom at the top.

It clashed _beautifully_ with the red, white, and black plaid.

Luisa’s eyes narrowed as they walked through the door and she caught sight of the bright purple. Rose just gave her a little grin, brows raised. Her breath puffed cloudy white in the sudden cold, and she buried her hands in her pockets. She could already feel the temperature stinging her bare cheeks, even though there was no wind. She shuddered to think of how frigid it would be _with_ the wind. Hopefully on days like that, Luisa and Mia didn’t still walk everywhere. Somehow, she highly suspected that they still did.

“Dee’s is this way,” Luisa said, nodding her head in the right direction as she started down the sidewalk.

Mia ran alongside her, scuffing her bright pink boots into piles of snow on the side of the street. She stopped by one pile and started making what Rose _knew_ was a snowball, and Luisa rushed towards her, patting between her shoulder blades. “ _After we eat_ ,” Rose heard her whisper, and there was a look exchanged between Luisa and her daughter and a quick side-eye in Rose’s direction that…honestly did _not_ make her worry for what would happen after lunch, provided she wasn’t so comatose from eating that she wasn’t able to move. She was an accomplished snowball fighter. Very good. _The best_ , some might even dare to say. All of which she would tell the other two if they should ever try to challenge her title.

“So,” Rose started after a few minutes of walking, “how far away _is_ this _Dee’s_?”

“Right here!” Mia sprinted ahead – Dee’s was only a few buildings down, with very little distinguishing it from the nearby buildings other than being notably larger – and jumped into a snow pile, standing straight up with her hands on her hips and a bright grin on her face.

Rose took in the appearance of the building – one story, dark thatched roof – and tried to see anything that distinguished it as a restaurant. As she looked around, she could see something that _might_ be a sign, but it was covered with snow – so much piled on top and huge piles in front of and behind it that she couldn’t read it. But the closer they got to the building, the more obvious it became that it was a restaurant. She could smell bacon and coffee wafting from inside, even if it _was_ lunchtime, and she could hear the sound of burgers sizzling on the grill out back (although why anyone would be using a grill outside in the snow was beyond her). The name _Dee’s_ was emblazoned on both of the glass front doors in thick black cursive letters, with days and times printed just underneath, none of which she particularly cared to keep in mind.

Mia pushed the door open and scampered inside, but Luisa held the door open for Rose, where Mia would have accidentally let it slam in her face. Once inside, the smell of food was overwhelming, and Rose could feel her stomach grumbling. It was so loud she was _sure_ that Luisa could hear it, but the other woman didn’t say anything, just gave her a little smile.

“Tomorrow, make sure to wake up for breakfast.”

Rose’s expression didn’t change. She followed Luisa and Mia to a table just against one of the windows. Mia stripped off her neon colored coat and hung it on the back of her chair, stuffing both of her gloves in the same pocket so that they poofed out – girls’ coat pockets were barely big enough for _one_ fuzzy glove, let alone _two_. Rose and Luisa followed suit, hanging their coats on the back of their chairs. Luisa sat in a chair next to Mia, and Rose sat across from both of them.

“So – do they know we’re here?” Rose asked, leaning forward on the palm of one hand. The restaurant seemed mostly empty – probably because they were between the two rushes Luisa had mentioned.

“Give them a few minutes,” Luisa said. “They’re getting—”

“I’ll tell them!” Mia jumped out of her seat and ran to the front counter, which was just tall enough that she had to lean on her tiptoes to see over the top of it.

Rose chuckled inwardly, smile showing on her face, brows raising. “She’s a little excitable, isn’t she?”

Luisa shrugged, not meeting Rose’s eyes. “We don’t get many visitors this time of year. Certainly no one who looks like her.”

“Where’s her dad?” Rose asked, eyes wandering to one of the plastic ad menus set next to the bottles of ketchup and mustard propped just under the window. “I’m sure _he_ looks like her.”

“Her _mother_ ,” Luisa corrected without a hint of bitterness, “died when she was three years old. She doesn’t remember much of her.”

Rose’s head whipped to look at Luisa, but Luisa was looking over to where her daughter waited at the front counter. Mia glanced back to them and gave them both a grin and a big wave.

“I thought _you_ were her mother.”

“You are the most oblivious—” Luisa stopped herself. “ _Kiss the princess instead of_ be _the princess, indeed_ ,” she whispered, finally turning back to meet Rose’s eyes. “Mia has _two_ mothers.”

Rose’s eyes widened just the slightest bit, and she nodded with a smile, slightly hunched forward on the table. “Oh, I got that.”

“You weren’t _acting_ like you—”

“ _Ahem._ ”

Rose looked up, and there was a blonde woman with a pencil stabbed through her untidy bun standing just next to her. She, too, was wearing a flannel shirt, although hers was plaid with cerulean blue, tan, and a hint of pink. Her light blue eyes were underlined with deep bags, but she smiled nearly as pleasantly as Luisa did, even if it didn’t hold the same sort of enthusiasm for life that Rose got from her companion.

Mia jumped back into her seat. “See? Told you I’d let them know!”

Luisa’s grin became slightly more awkward as she leaned back in her seat. “Hi, Dee.”

“Luisa,” the woman said with an affirming nod. Her eyes swept from Luisa to Rose. “Is this a date?”

“No!” Luisa exclaimed immediately, eyes widening and focusing on Rose entirely before returning to Dee. “She’s a customer! Of _mine_! She’s staying at the inn!”

“And Mom and I thought we’d show her around town and she hasn’t eaten and she didn’t get up early enough for breakfast and—”

“ _Jet lag_ ,” Rose interjected between Mia’s sudden rambling. She waved a hand to try and cut Mia off (unsuccessfully) and then held it out to Dee. “I’m Rose,” she said with what she knew was a fetching smile, although not the one she’d used only a day previously in the situation at the other hotel. “Rose Clement. The hotels in the next town over were full up and they sent me here. I couldn’t just fly back out.”

Dee’s welcoming smile seemed to freeze on her face. “No, of course you couldn’t.” Her eyes flicked back to Luisa. “You’re _sure_ this isn’t a date?”

“It’s not,” Luisa said immediately. “It’s not, it’s not, _trust me_ , it’s not. I just met Rose yesterday, and if this were a proper _date_ , we wouldn’t have Mia with us.”

“Hey!”

Luisa turned to Mia, still grinning, but it was a frozen grin that seemed almost as much gritted teeth as grin. “You didn’t hear that.”

“Yes, I did! That’s no fair!” Mia’s arms crossed. “Why don’t _I_ get to go on dates?”

“We’ll…we’ll talk about that _later_ ,” Luisa said, and she turned to Dee with an expression that was clearly begging for help.

For a moment, Rose thought that this _Dee_ woman was being really cruel, but when she looked back at Dee, she could see nothing but a fond amusement plain on her face. She was joking. This was all one big joke. Probably not even the first time she’d played this joke, either, or something similar to it.

Dee gave Rose a big wink once she caught Rose looking at her. “These are our menus,” she started to say as Rose leaned back in her chair with a sigh, “and you can find our specials—”

“We don’t need those,” Mia said immediately, leaning forward with a hand outstretched, almost as though she were trying to send the menus back but her arms were too short to reach that far. “We eat here all the time! We know what we want—”

“ _Rose_ hasn’t been here before, dear,” Luisa said, placing a hand on Mia’s head and leaning on it as though it was a pillow. “ _She_ doesn’t know what Dee’s has.”

“There are burgers and breakfast and—”

“Here’s your menu,” Dee continued, moving the one she’d been showcasing in front of Rose then placing another in front of Luisa and a third in front of Mia. “Do any of you want drinks, or do you want to take your time—”

“Hot chocolate!” Mia shouted before Dee had the time to finish what she was saying. “We want hot chocolate! All of us!” She turned to face Rose with a big smile on her face, her teeth a little lopsided. It was only then that Rose noticed that one of her teeth was missing – not the front two, but one just next to them. An incisor, maybe. She couldn’t be sure.

Luisa nudged her daughter with her elbow. “What if Rose wants something else?”

Mia pouted. “She _has_ to—” She looked up at Rose with big brown eyes. “You _have_ to try some of Dee’s hot chocolate. It’s the best hot chocolate ever, and if you don’t have any while you’re here, then you’re wrong and you should do better with your life.”

Rose’s eyes widened, and she nodded once, very firmly. “I should do better with my life?” she echoed.

Mia crossed her arms. “Mom says it all the time when she’s mad at the ladies in her tv shows.”

Luisa nudged Mia with her elbow a little harder this time, and Mia leaned back a little too hard in her chair, knocking her head against one of the wooden posts. But this didn’t seem to faze the small girl, who rubbed the back of her head and stuck her tongue out at her mother, who just stuck her tongue out back at her.

“Do you _want_ the hot chocolate, miss?” the blonde woman – Dee, who had to have been the owner – asked, pen in her hand. “I’m not going to force you to get it, and not everyone likes it.”

“Because some people are _stupid_ ,” Mia said, extending the last word so that it felt more like three syllables than its normal two. She met Rose’s eyes again. “Get some and if you don’t like it _I’ll_ drink it.”

“But then you’ll think _I’m_ stupid. I have a reputation to uphold.” Rose turned to Dee with a smug smile and a nod. “Hot chocolate, please.”

“Do you want the whipped cream and cherry on top?”

Rose’s eyes shifted to Mia and Luisa, the former of which nodded her head rapidly. Luisa had already placed her head in one hand, refusing to look. “Ye-es,” Rose said hesitantly, as she looked back to the blonde woman.

Dee tapped the menu in front of Rose. “Take a look through everything, and I’ll be back in a few minutes with your drinks. You can order whenever you’re ready.” She placed a hand on Luisa’s shoulder. “The usual, right? With cookies after everything?” She patted Luisa’s shoulder when Luisa just raised her hand with a slight wave, and then Dee walked away.

Rose didn’t know what exactly had made Luisa so embarrassed as to hide her face. Maybe it was just her kid. Likely it _was_ her kid, but Rose didn’t feel like Mia was acting like anything other than a little child on her Christmas break. She leaned back in her chair. “So – which of you two wants my cherry? You,” and here she gave Mia a look, “wanted me to get it. You want it, don’t you?”

“Nope!” Mia said with a bright grin. “Mom does!” Mia patted one hand on her mom’s back. “I don’t like them, either, and they’re her _favorite_.”

Luisa coughed and brushed her hands together before sticking them under the table. Her face was a bright red. “They’re not my favorite.”

“Yes, they are.”

“Nope. Marshmallows. All the tiny little marshmallows. Those are my favorite. Not the cherry. I just take it because you don’t like it.”

“Mom, what’s wrong?” Mia’s eyes narrowed. “Did I say something wrong?”

Rose covered her mouth with one hand, trying not to laugh and failing spectacularly. The sound came out a little muffled, almost like a broken sort of cough, but her grin was so big she was sure it could be seen regardless of how hard she was trying to hide it. She reached her other hand over beneath the table and patted one of Luisa’s with her own. “Don’t worry. I like cherries, too.”

Mia frowned. “Then why did you offer it to us?”

“Onto another subject!” Luisa said at once, her face an even brighter red than it had been before. “Rose, which hotel were you planning to stay at?”

“You mean which one shafted me even though I’d already paid for my room?” Rose asked, playing with one of the packets of sugar. She wanted something to fiddle with, and when her eyes met Mia’s, the girl immediately turned her fingers into a tiny goal post. Rose flicked the sugar packet towards her. When it passed through her fingers, Mia shot her hands up in a _goal!_ sign.

“Yes,” Luisa said. “That’s what I meant.”

“I don’t remember the name of it.” Rose shrugged, leaning back in her chair. She picked up the menu and began reading through the list of different food items Dee’s had available but she wasn’t really paying attention. The fingers of her unoccupied hand tapped on the table. “I think it was something fancy and almost fake Italian. Something _bella_ – _beautiful_ – because the owner probably had his head up his ass.”

Rose peeked over the top of the menu and met Luisa’s eyes. “I don’t think _all_ of you are like that, by the way. Just him and owners like him. Because he kicked me out even though I’d already paid him and because it sounded like he’s done this before.”

Luisa was looking at Mia, who was already beginning to mouth what Rose had said, and whispering, “ _Don’t say it_.” She waved a hand in Rose’s direction. “No offense taken. You’re probably thinking of the Marbella, and you’re _right_. He _is_ an ass. Especially this time of year.”

“You know him?”

“No, no, not at all,” Luisa said without looking back up. “I just meet with the hotel owners and let them know to send any surplus customers to me. They always have them. Why shouldn’t I take advantage of that?”

“And yet somehow _I’m_ the only surplus any of them have this year.”

Luisa shrugged again. “Not all of them like me.”

“But the a—” Rose stopped herself before she could say it again. More _Luisa_ stopped her, head whipping to give her a wide-eyed stare that shifted pointedly to Mia. “—the _jerk_ ,” and here Rose watched as Luisa nodded in acceptance with a thumbs up gesture before continuing, “at the Marbella or whatever it’s called sent me.”

Luisa shrugged yet again. “He likes me. I don’t know why. Maybe I just have connections.”

“Connections that get innocent people like me sent out to the middle of nowhere at Christmas time to your hotel?”

Luisa opened her mouth as though to say something, but by then Mia was standing in her seat again, gesturing outward. “Look, look!” She pointed, and here was Dee, carrying a platter with their three orders of hot chocolate.

Rose was in no way prepared for what was coming her way. Each cup of hot chocolate was in a clear tumbler shaped like the kind of glass that would be used for an ice cream sundae. There were clearly layers of fudge mixed in with the drink itself – she could tell from the darker stains at the bottom, at the middle, and again near the top. There was a spiraling manifesto of whipped cream topping each drink, and more fudge threaded around and through that, with a large cherry on the top.

Dee placed the platter on the table across from them then carefully took each drink and placed it in front of each of them. This close up, Rose could see minor differences in each of them – hers was plain, or as plain as could be considering the extravagance of the hot chocolate; Mia’s was full of what appeared to be Oreo crumbs and chunks, some of which were scattered on her whipped cream as well; and Luisa’s was full of tiny marshmallows with another layer of what must have been marshmallow fluff in her whipped cream – it was a different texture than the whipped cream, even though they were approximately the same color – and a little bit of caramel threaded on top as well.

Oddly enough, Mia’s was without a cherry. It didn’t take long for Mia to notice that, though, and she frowned. “Where’s my cherry, Dee?” she asked with a pout.

Dee tilted her head to one side with a fond smile. “I thought your mother would do well enough with only _one_ cherry today.” She turned to face Rose as she continued. “They’re in here almost every day, sometimes twice a day, just for these and a plate of cookies. Hopefully they won’t make you do the same.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Rose said. She couldn’t keep looking at the hot chocolate in front of her; the size of it alone was intimidating. “Although I _do_ have to question why the cherry is worse than the entire drink.”

Dee shrugged. “Can’t keep them from buying the drink. _Can_ keep her from a second cherry.” She tapped Rose’s closed menu with one hand. “Do you know what you want yet?”

Rose shook her head. Luisa was clearly pouting over the loss of a second cherry, but Mia had already begun to dig into her drink. Her lips were already becoming stained with the fudge on the top of the hot chocolate, and a bit of whipped cream was stuck to the tip of her nose.

“What do _they_ normally get?” Rose asked, looking at Luisa and Mia. “Is it just as diabetes causing as these things are?”

“No!” Luisa interjected, crossing her arms with a little huff. “We’re a little bit more manageable, thank you very much.”

But Rose looked to Dee for confirmation, not trusting the hotel owner or her child to be completely truthful on the matter. Dee’s head shifted from one side to the other – a _yes and no_ gesture if Rose had ever seen one. “Just give me something salty. Burger and fries or something…something that will match the sugar overload that this is.”

“ _You haven’t even seen the cookies_ ,” Mia whispered.

“One heart attack coming right up,” Dee said as she took the menu from in front of Rose and the two unopened from Luisa and Mia. “Do you want something _big_ or something _little_?”

“Something in-between and we can go from there,” Rose said with a smile. “Medium rare, please.”

“It’s the only thing I cook.” And Dee turned around and left them alone again.

Rose glanced across to Luisa, who hadn’t even started her hot chocolate, who was instead eying the cherry on top of Rose’s drink. Rose sighed and took the cherry from the top of her whipped cream, made as though to pop it in her mouth (watching as Luisa’s face fell when she did), then handed it over, the stem curved between her fingers. “Here,” she said. “Told you you could have it. Not gonna back out now.”

“Thank you,” Luisa said, grinning, and she immediately took the cherry and popped it between her lips. She relaxed with a content smile, but as soon as she did, Rose took the cherry off of Luisa’s drink and placed it between her own lips. Luisa’s face fell again. “Hey!”

“I said I’d give you mine. I didn’t say anything about it being an unfair trade.”

Mia giggled. There was now whipped cream covering her face in little pieces, almost as much as the freckles spotting her cheeks. She took one of her napkins and wiped at her face where her tongue couldn’t reach the chocolate or cream. “You have to try yours!” she exclaimed, pointing at Rose’s drink. “Trust me, they’re _amazing_!”

“It’s gonna put me in a diabetic coma.”

Luisa reached over and patted Rose’s hand. “I used to be a doctor. If you actually have a heart attack from all of this, I’ll make sure to save your life.” Then her lips broke into a smile. “You don’t want the whole thing, don’t _drink_ the whole thing. But you have to at least try it. It’s one of the best things in the entire town. You haven’t lived if you came here and didn’t have one of these.”

Rose nodded with a grim expression. “I seem to remember someone else saying that just a little while ago.”

“Well, it was true.”

Luisa, at least, used a spoon with her whipped cream so that it didn’t get everywhere. Rose stuck a straw through hers so that it went through the layers of fudge and cream to the hot chocolate. “How come yours have all the other stuff added in?”

“We’re here a lot,” Luisa said with a shrug. “We know what we like, and we asked for additions, and once we found our favorites, we just ordered those a lot. Dee remembers.”

“I can see that.” Rose leaned back in her chair as she took a sip. The hot chocolate was definitely as good as they’d indicated it would be, one of the few things in her life that had actually lived up to its hype. It wasn’t even as overwhelmingly sweet as she imagined, although she was certain the caramel in Luisa’s made hers even more palatable. “Does she have strawberry sauce, by any chance?”

“Yes!” Mia chimed in before Luisa could say anything. “I used to ask for strawberry on mine, but I got tired of it.”

“Pity,” Rose replied. “I would have added some if I knew.”

“Maybe next time,” Luisa said with a warm smile.

Rose mimicked her smile and nodded once. “Maybe next time.”

* * *

It didn’t take long for them to finish their meals. Longer to finish the huge glasses of hot chocolate and the platter of cookies that Rose wanted nothing to do with (and yet was still talked into eating at least one), long enough for them to sit and talk about a lot of smaller things that were mostly irrelevant – a lot of it Mia talking animatedly about a cartoon she’d been watching or a book series she’d been reading or a game she’d been playing, something that she wanted to know if Rose had ever heard of and if she did what did she think about it? Unfortunately for her, most of the things she mentioned were things Rose didn’t know, but unfortunately for Luisa and Rose, that gave her leave to talk about and explain them in full detail to Rose. By the end, it seemed to Luisa that Rose was just nodding and smiling to humor her, occasionally looking over to meet Luisa’s eyes with a smile, but then Rose would ask Mia a question with so much detail that it proved just how much she _was_ paying attention to what Mia was saying.

It was surprising.

Rose let out a heavy, contented breath as she leaned back in her chair. Her hot chocolate was nowhere near completely gone; she’d only made it maybe halfway through, but in a move that was completely unsurprising to her, both Luisa and Mia’s glasses were empty. Mia had taken things a bit further, sticking her fingers into the glass and getting as much of the hot chocolate and fudge out as she could. Her glass was almost licked clean, even though her hands were definitely sticky. Luisa gave her a nudge, and Mia pressed a sticky kiss to her mother’s cheek before scampering off to the bathroom to get what was left off of her hands before shoving them back into her fuzzy gloves again.

“So it was good?” Luisa asked, propping her elbows on the table and leaning forward on them.

“If I eat anything else right now, I might _burst_.” Rose smiled. “I almost regret eating that cherry.”

“You _should_.” But Luisa didn’t sound like she thought it was a regrettable action. Instead, there was a smug smile on her face. “Now, time for us to go. We’ve got to show you around town. Do some shopping. Find the perfect tree.”

Rose groaned, and she was certain she sounded just like a child. “Do we _have_ to? I feel so **full** that I feel like trying to go anywhere right now is just going to make me feel sick.”

“Have to get rid of all those calories somehow,” Luisa said. She turned with open arms as Mia scampered back to them, and her daughter seemed to tackle her, burying her face in her chest and rubbing it before looking back up at her. Luisa kissed her forehead and brushed some of her red curls out of her face. “Tree first? Or do we show Miss Rose here some much better clothing options?”

Mia turned to face Rose, who hadn’t moved from where she’d leaned back in her chair and was trying not to groan again at the idea of having to get up. “What’d Rose say?”

“ _Rose_ doesn’t want to move,” Luisa said confidingly. “She’s a little overwhelmed with all of the hot chocolate and good Dee food. But,” and here she poked Mia’s tummy, and Mia giggled, “we need to get out of here before the next rush hits, don’t we?”

Mia’s eyes widened, and they were as comically large as Luisa’s sometimes appeared to be. Despite the apparent lack of genetic material, there was no doubt that Mia was Luisa’s child. Straight down to the mannerisms – and she expected if Luisa were a kid, she’d be just as easily excitable and energetic about everything as Mia was. She wondered, briefly, what Mia’s biological mother was like. But she didn’t ask.

It really wasn’t any of her business.

Mia nodded and jumped out of Luisa’s arms, ran around to the other side of the table, and took one of Rose’s hands in both of her own before tugging on her. “C’mon, c’mon! You have to get up! We have to go!” She dug her heels in and gave another strong tug.

Rose feigned being pulled out of her seat at Mia’s strength, and she stumbled forward a bit as she stood, bending over with her hands on her knees. She gave a huff and met Mia’s brown eyes. “You’re _really strong_ , did you know that?”

Mia didn’t even giggle; she’d already dropped Rose’s hand and scurried back to her own chair, pulling on her coat and gloves as quickly as she could. “No time for talking, only time for moving!” Then, as soon as she was done, she was running through the restaurant back to the front door and outside into the snow.

“She’s not going to go very far, is she?” Rose asked as she pulled her coat back on.

Luisa was distracted briefly, looking at her, and Rose guessed it had to do with the black bra under her light colored shirt – even with the coat and the flannel, she knew it could be seen just briefly before she was bundled up again, and she grinned when Luisa looked up to meet her eyes again, her tongue peeking out of one corner of her lips. “Like what you see?”

“Mmmmmmm.” Luisa didn’t exactly _speak_ , but the sound was out in a relaxed _agreeing_ murmur before she could stop herself. She shook her head in what was obviously an attempt to get the thought out of her head, and she took another breath. “No, she won’t go very far.” She tapped a hand on the table. “I’ll pay. It’s the least I can do.”

“For what?” Rose asked. “You’re not the reason I’m stuck here. If anything, you’ve been _more_ than accommodating. Let me pay.”

“If I were a good hotel owner, I would have food ready for you at the hotel instead of dragging you out here through all of the snow.” Luisa started away from the table before Rose was done getting herself ready to go out in the cold. “ _I’ll_ pay. You go watch Mia for me. Make sure she doesn’t go too far.”

“You said she wouldn’t.”

Luisa shrugged. “I might’ve lied.” She made a shooing gesture with her hands. “Go, go!”

“You can’t watch your own kid?”

“She likes you better than me.” Luisa nodded outside the window, where Mia had splayed herself, hands in their little gloves flat against the pane, face pasted as close as possible, her bright brown eyes focused on Rose. She grinned as she noticed Luisa and Rose watching her and then scampered off again. Luisa turned back to Rose. “You’re new. You haven’t lost the shine.”

“Shine?” Rose echoed, but there was no answer. She pulled on her fuzzy purple gloves as Luisa walked to the counter, leaned forward onto the bar, and called for Dee. Rose just shook her head with another sigh and made it outside of the building.

She waited just outside of the door, her breath leaving little puffs of air in the cold. All of a sudden, a snowball came sailing at her head – she didn’t hear it whistle past, but the mark was a little too far off, missing her entirely. She didn’t even have to look to know that the snowball came from Mia, and she whistled a little tune of her own as her lips spread in a mischievous grin. “Truce.”

“I haven’t even hit you yet!” Mia exclaimed, popping up from behind one of the snow-covered flower beds. She scowled and crossed her arms, face so pale that the freckles on her face popped, her nose already turning a bright red. “You can’t call truce when I haven’t hit you!”

Rose walked over to the flower bed with her arms crossed and her hands stuck between them and the rest of her body to conserve warmth. Mia watched as she approached, eyes wary and curious.

“I have an idea,” Rose said, her voice soft.

“What _sort_ of idea?”

* * *

It took three minutes. Okay, maybe _more_ than three minutes. By the time Luisa approached the front door to Dee’s restaurant, the two of them were crouched behind the flower beds, not even curls of their red hair visible or the blue pom on top of Rose’s fluffy hat. Rose held a finger to her lips as she saw Luisa and held up one hand.

Luisa walked outside.

“ _Now!_ ”

Snowballs shot out from their hiding place, pelting Luisa’s head and her side. As soon as the first one hit, she held up her hands as though to protect herself, but they’d had enough time to make so many more snowballs – on top of the ones Mia had already been making as she waited for Luisa and Rose to come outside – that they rained down on her.

“Stop, stop!”

After too long getting pelted with snowballs, Luisa jumped to the other side of the flower bed and ducked down so that she couldn’t be seen other than the crown of her head, which was covered with a forest green snow cap. “This means _war_!” she yelled.

By then, Rose had already gestured for Mia to start up the longer side of the flower bed and Mia’d begun creeping towards where her mother hid on the other end. Rose popped up every now and again, throwing a snowball at Luisa but missing more often than not. Luisa would occasionally pop up as well, sending a snowball at her, but from where Rose was standing, her distraction was working – Luisa wasn’t focused on Mia at all. In fact, it didn’t seem like she’d even seen her!

A few minutes passed, and then, all of a sudden, Mia was there, and instead of pelting her mother with snowballs, she jumped on her all at once, pounding her into the snow! Luisa gave a sharp exclamation of surprise, followed by a desperate, “I give, I give! Truce! Truce!”

Rose grinned as she stood up, wiping her snow-covered hands against the tight jeans Luisa’d chosen for her to wear. The snow darkened her pants where it touched them, and she brushed a hand through her red curls. There. She was still ahead. She and Mia’d won, hadn’t they?

That thought didn’t last.

All at once, the mother and daughter pair began throwing balls at her. Unlike Luisa, Rose didn’t raise her hands or try to cover herself or keep herself safe. Instead, she stood her ground, very firm, unmoving, until the barrage of snowballs was gone. She wasn’t dripping wet, but the curls of her hair were so lengthened from the snow that she might as well have been. She let out a little huff that came out in a large poof of air, a large cloud, and her eyes, though a bright blue, flashed daggers at the mother/daughter pair.

Mia dove down on the other side of the flower bed, furiously making more snowballs, and Luisa flashed her a semi-apologetic grin accompanied by her little tiny finger wave. Rose ignored both of them and began walking away.

“Wait, wait!” Mia shouted, eyes wide as she popped back up from her side of the flower bed. “Where are you going?”

“Shopping,” Rose replied without turning back. “Where does it look like I’m going?”

“You don’t even know the way!”

Rose shrugged. “Then I guess you should come show me where I’m going, then, shouldn’t you?”

There wasn’t much time before Mia began racing after her, tiny feet in her little pink boots pounding on the concrete. This was exactly what Rose was waiting for. As soon as Mia was close enough, Rose wrapped her arms around the little girl and lifted her, screaming, over her shoulder. Mia began to pound with tiny fists on her shoulder. Rose turned to see Luisa behind them and raised her eyebrows, as though asking permission. When Luisa gave a nod with a smug little smile, Rose grinned and carted the little girl to one of the huge piles of snow on the other side of the parking lot and dropped her into it.

Mia screamed!

She plopped down so far that when she finally stood up only the top of her hat could be seen under all of the snow, and she reached her arms forward as though swimming, hands pushing through the other end and pushing the snow to either side of her to make it through. Her eyes narrowed into a firm glare at Rose. “That’s not fair.”

“All’s fair in love and war, pipsqueak.”

Mia frowned. “Don’t call me that.”

“Why not?” Rose asked as Luisa walked up next to her.

“That’s what Mom used to call me, and you’re not my mom, so you don’t get to call me that.” Mia scowled and crossed her tiny arms and stormed off down the sidewalk.

“Is she okay?” Rose asked, turning to face Luisa.

Luisa nodded. “She’ll be fine. Just give her a few minutes.” She pointed. “She’s not too mad – she’s still leading us toward the shops and not back to the hotel.” She grinned.

Rose sighed. “ _Of course_ she is.” She gave Luisa a look. “How are we going to get a tree back to the hotel without a car?”

“You’ll see.”

* * *

It didn’t take long for Mia to stop and slow down enough for Rose and Luisa to catch up. She hadn’t been travelling too terribly fast in the first place – she was only seven years old and had small legs, but Luisa had indicated that they should stay back while she worked herself out. She was still within sight, so there wasn’t any real reason to worry about her. It was only once they were close to the shopping square that she slowed down at all, and even then, it was only so she could pull Rose’s hand out of her pocket and tug her in the direction of the shops as though she hadn’t been following her the entire time so far.

Her brown eyes were lit up, but this time Mia didn’t say anything. Her gaze drifted from Rose to Luisa, but her grin was a little softer than it had been before. Her tug caused Rose to fake stumble a few steps, and her lackluster expression caused Rose to give Luisa a worried expression of her own, but Luisa didn’t indicate that anything was truly wrong. So Rose didn’t push one way or the other, expecting that Luisa knew her daughter better than anyone else would, excepting perhaps her other mother, but considering that woman was dead, there wasn’t really much they could do about that, was there?

“So, which shop first?” Rose asked as they drew closer to the town square. She could see, even through the snow covering all of the signs, that there were a bunch of little shops. Knick-knacks, a boutique for clothes and another for jewelry and hats, a store with all kinds of fishing supplies that held a sign in its window broadcasting its new _ice fishing_ supplies, a used bookstore, and what looked to be a three floor tall thrift store, full of all sorts of unique…well, Rose _expected_ unique items, but she also _kind of_ expected trash – the kind of secondhand stuff that _no one_ really wanted anymore. And, to top it all off, there was a gift shop full of plush toys and something about fish in tanks that would glow in the dark if you really wanted to take home some of Longbourne’s most famous attraction – _Take home a little bit of Longbourne!_ one of the signs read, but Rose wasn’t sure she really wanted to do that just yet.

Home was, after all, a very complicated place.

“What do you think, Mama?” Mia asked, her voice a little smaller than it had been, as she turned to Luisa with round eyes.

“Clothes.” Luisa looked at the first of the two boutiques, and at first she seemed to grin, then, as though realizing something, her grin turned to a grimace. “You know they have _all sorts_ of things in Ye Olde Thrifte Store.”

Rose took a moment to look at Luisa with an unimpressed stare. “It’s _not_ really called that.”

Luisa shrugged. “No, but it’s more fun if we call it that. It’s not like you’ll remember the name when you leave anyway.”

Rose didn’t open her mouth to interject or say otherwise, and her lips pursed into a determined, albeit unamused, expression. “You just want to see me in different outfits. Like you haven’t gotten enough out of dressing me up earlier.”

“ _That’s true_ ,” Luisa said with a grin, “but _you_ were the one who originally told _Mia_ she could pick out what you wore. You should live up to that.”

“I wouldn’t have let her—”

“Wouldn’t have let me what?’

Rose’s expression froze on her face, and she read the panicked look on Luisa’s face with a laugh bubbling in the back of her throat. “Nothing,” she said finally with a nod in Luisa’s direction. “Your dear mother here just thinks that _some_ of my clothing choices are a little _inappropriate_ for a girl of your age.”

“I’m seven years old!” Mia protested, and it seemed as though she’d finally gotten her gumption back. “I can see a lot more things than I could have when I was six! I would’ve been fine!”

“I’m sure you would have,” Rose said with a nod, but her eyes kept drifting over to Luisa, “but your mom here thought it was best to protect you.”

Mia pursed her lips together into a fierce little scowl for her age. “Well, you’ll let me pick stuff out at the store, right? And then you can get it and wear it tomorrow!”

“I don’t know about that—”

“The clothes there are super cheap.” Luisa nudged Rose with her elbow. “You should take advantage of our unique fisherman small town vibe. It’d do a lot for _I’m not a princess_ look you’re going for.”

“Quit mocking me. That is a legitimate thing.”

“Which is _bolstered_ by the kinds of clothes we sell here.”

“The kinds _you_ obviously aren’t wearing.”

“Of course.” Luisa’s smile was smug as they walked across the parking lot and Mia dragged Rose through the front door. “They wouldn’t help _me_. But _you_ stick out like a sore thumb.”

“Because _you_ picked out my clothes!”

“No, because you look like a princess.” Luisa grinned. “Dressing room is _that_ way,” she said, pointing in a direction on the other end of the store as Mia scampered off into the aisles of clothing. “Go find yourself a room, and we’ll come by with some clothes for you.”

Rose’s eyes narrowed. “I thought this was just for Mia.”

“No. This is for me, too. Possibly with pictures.”

“Is this the way _all_ small town hotel owners treat their guests? I’m starting to think it’s a _good_ thing I don’t come to small towns very often. Wouldn’t want any men to treat me this way.”

Luisa’s eyes widened in what appeared to be a feigned mixture of pain and shock. “You think I’m taking advantage of you?”

“No, I think I’m _letting_ you take advantage of me. It’s an entire world of difference.”

“And you’d let a male hotel owner do the same thing?”

“No,” Rose said, scoffing.

“Then why does it matter how they would treat you? You wouldn’t stand for it.” Luisa smiled. “Makes me wonder why you’re allowing it for us.”

“I’m bored.” Rose shrugged then leaned a little bit closer to Luisa, so close that her breath was hot on the other woman’s skin. She could feel Luisa freeze before she whispered in her ear, “ _And_ you’re really pretty.” Then she walked off in the direction of the dressing rooms before Luisa could reply.

She took a deep breath and closed herself off in one of the dressing rooms, sitting on the chair in the corner while she waited for the hotel owner and her child to bring her whatsoever their hearts desired. This would be easier if she’d been able to go through the clothes herself and find something _she_ wanted to change into so that she had something to do while she was waiting – even if it was just trying on more clothes that she didn’t necessarily want. But she knew that it would be much more entertaining this way – the not knowing what clothes there were or what clothes she’d already passed by – this would be _nice_. Eventually. In a few minutes. However long it took before—

“Rose?”

Rose could hear Mia’s voice soft and questioning at the end of the hall of dressing rooms. It was a bit big to call it a _hall_ , but it was a section separate from the rest of the store with three dressing rooms right next to each other. Rose opened the door to hers and poked her head out. “I’m right here.”

Mia’s concerned face broke into an eager grin, and she dashed forward, bringing with her what looked to be as many clothes in a bundle as her small arms could carry. She held them out, then stopped with a frown before Rose could take them from her arms. “Hold on! Some of these go with some of these and some of these you can wear with whatever you want and some of these are supposed to go with your jeans and—”

Rose grinned as Mia continued to chatter away, and she pulled the chair out from the dressing room. “Here,” she said. “Stuff I can wear with whatever I want, put on the chair, and then specific outfits you can hand to me and I’ll hang them up together in there, okay?”

“Okay,” Mia said with a firm little nod. Then she looked up at Rose. “You’ll try them _all_ on, right? No matter what they are?”

Rose tilted her head to one side. “No promises. But I’ll try _some_ of them on,” she said quickly as she watched Mia’s face fall. She crouched down in front of the little girl. “Are you going to sit out here so that you can see each of the outfits?”

Mia pressed her quivering lips together then bit on her lower lip as she paused in organizing the clothes she’d carried with her. “If I do, will you try them all on?” She looked up at Rose with large, deep brown eyes.

The puppy dog look. Rose knew this look. _She was horribly weak to this look._

It didn’t take long for Rose to let out an exasperated sigh. Then she smiled and pulled Mia’s hat off so that she could ruffle the girl’s bright red curls again. “Fine,” she said as Mia’s expression turned into a scowl.

“Don’t mess with my hair!”

“ _Fine_ ,” Rose repeated, tugging the hat back down on Mia’s head. “I’ll try them all on. Every single one. But _you_ ,” she pointed at Mia and then poked the middle of her chest very carefully, “have to stay here and see what they all look like. You have to tell me if they look good or not.”

Mia’s scowl at having her hair mussed suddenly disappeared, replaced with a bright grin. “Yeah!” She placed the last of the clothes onto the chair. “Those are all the ones that you don’t have to do in pairs, but these—” She held up a couple of outfits – shirts and pants or skirts. “I want you to wear these with these.”

“Okay. I can do that.” Rose took the clothes pairs from Mia and hung them up on the hangers in the dressing room. Then, before she could pull the chair with its pile back into the dressing room—

“Wait!”

Mia stopped her, pressing one hand on Rose’s and pushing her out of the way. She shuffled through a few of the clothes she had on the chair before pulling out a cream and gold colored dress. She held it out for her like it was the most beautiful and exquisite thing she’d ever seen, despite the lack of awe or wonder on her face. “Mom gave me this before I came back. She said you should try it on first and then come find her before you try on any of the others.” Her tiny little lips pursed to one side in a scowl. “I don’t think that’s fair, though. If she really wanted you to wear it, she should’ve brought it to you herself and if she really wanted to see it, she should be the one staying here instead of sending it with me and making you come find me and if I’m the one back here, you should be trying on the clothes I brought back first instead of her dress.”

Rose had slowly moved the chair with the rest of the clothes back to the dressing room, and then she calmly took the dress out of Mia’s arms, not quite looking it over yet. “I agree with you,” Rose said with an understanding nod, “but I think it’s probably best if we do what your mom wants.”

Mia pouted. “I guess.”

Rose held the dress out for Mia to look at it. “Don’t _you_ want to see me in this?”

Mia looked over the dress, and it wasn’t until she gave a shrug and said, “Not really,” that Rose finally took it back into the dressing room, locked the door, and began to change. She could hear the little girl sit on one of the chairs outside and scuff her little pink boots on the carpeted floor.

The dress wasn’t much like anything Rose would choose to wear at all. In fact, it had been a long time since anyone had talked her into wearing a dress. Heidi had always preferred her in pants, not that it had mattered what Heidi wanted, and while Rose did like _some_ dresses it was annoyingly hard to find ones that she not only liked but also liked on _herself_. Still, as she began to change into the dress, she found that she was impressed by just how _soft_ it was.

Silk?

No. Not silk. _Definitely_ not silk.

But it felt like higher quality than should be in this little thrift shop in the middle of nowhere. Her thumb ran along the golden sheen with its more metallic accents along the edges. The entire piece wasn’t in that fabric, just the accents. Little curves along the edges where it dipped a little too low to be exactly _proper_. Around the bottom of the dress, which ran a little too long for her but would be _absolutely perfect_ with a pair of heels. Sparkling gold glitter and strands in the little white fluff puffed around the ends of the sleeves.

Looking at herself in the mirror, Rose thought she looked the way she might have if she’d married that old man so many years ago. Maybe, if she put on a brighter, deeper red lipstick to draw attention to her lips; if she did her hair in the immaculate curls that her stepmother had always insisted looked best on her instead of her wild, unkempt frizz of a look; if she angled her pale neck just so, where it seemed much longer than it already was; if she wore so much make-up that it covered the scar etched into her upper lip or the freckles dusting her cheeks and the bridge of her nose—

She could see it. The mirror of herself, the person she might have been staring at her from the mirror. The dress hugged her curves a little too tightly, accentuating them with the sheer white fabric. If she took the time, she would look like a million bucks.

But you didn’t _cover up_ the Sistine Chapel. The art stood well enough on its own.

When she opened the dressing room door and strode out of the room, Mia’s eyes barely lifted. Rose caught the little girl sticking her tongue out, heard the little “ _Yuck_ ,” that broke through her lips as she walked past on the tips of her toes in an attempt to give the full length the dress deserved. She didn’t judge Mia for it, and she didn’t hold it against her. When _she_ was Mia’s age, Rose wouldn’t have even considered wearing a dress like this. She’d run around in torn off shorts and stained, unwashed t-shirts, spending all of her time at the riverbank near her house, climbing trees and scraping her knees, among other things that were a little less likely for her to mention to the child herself. So, of course, she couldn’t hold it against her. She wouldn’t hold it against her younger self either.

But this outfit – this dress – wasn’t _for_ Mia, was it?

No.

It didn’t take long for Rose to maneuver through the racks of clothes – the dresses, the shirts, the pants, the skirts – or, at least, it certainly didn’t take long for her to make her way through the ones she needed to pass to find Luisa. The hotel owner was pushing through one of the racks, the metal tips of the hangers click-clack-clanking together with that small scratching whine of a sound as she pushed the metal against that of the rack itself.

But that all stopped when Rose placed her hand on Luisa’s shoulder.

“Luisa,” Rose murmured, her voice as smooth and seductive and low as she could make it.

The hotel owner froze beneath her touch. She swallowed so slowly that it was visible in her throat – this deep, silent thing that, if they were in a cartoon, certainly would have had a _gulp_ sound behind it. Rose could see that Luisa was looking at her, at the low cut of the dress, in the sheen of the metal on the rack, and Rose allowed herself to give a smile quite unlike the ones she’d given the hotel owner earlier that day.

“Are you going to turn around and look at me?” Rose asked, and she could feel the woman shiver beneath where her hand still lay on her shoulder.

Luisa nodded once, still staring into the metal reflection as though to steel herself, and then she turned around. And froze. Her eyes ran down Rose’s body and back up, and they grew even wider as they took more in until it looked like they were about to pop right out of her face.

Rose laughed at the expression, and all at once, Luisa seemed to relax and the spell was broken.

“Why did you want me to try this on?” Rose asked, watching Luisa’s face to see if anything would happen.

“Because I wanted to see what you would look like as a princess,” Luisa said, but the grin at her jest didn’t last. She took a deep breath, let out a sigh, and looked away, but when she looked away, it wasn’t towards anything in specific. Her eyes seemed to blank over as though she were focusing on something else entirely, and she sighed again. “Window shopping,” she said finally as she looked back up to Rose, focusing on her bright blue eyes. “I was just window shopping.”

“In front of your kid?”

“I told you to come out here. She’s fine. She doesn’t notice. She’s a kid.”

Rose gave her a look – and it was one she knew well because it was one she’d learned, unfortunately, from her stepmother and had perfected throughout her many, _many_ relationships with women who liked to think that _she_ was missing something or that they could keep something from her when they never really could – and she watched as Luisa almost melted.

Almost.

“She’s a kid,” Luisa repeated, a little more insistent this time. “She doesn’t notice.” Her head tilted to one side. “In fact, I’m quite certain her words were _yuck_ followed by an extremely unpleased look. Probably a scowl. Was she scowling when you left?”

“She wasn’t _scowling_ ,” Rose said, crossing her arms, “but she _definitely_ said _yuck_.”

“Uh-huh.” A grin lit Luisa’s face. She looked to Rose, and the grin turned smug. “Told you. I know my daughter.” She sighed. “But trust me, you do _not_ look _yuck_ in that dress.”

“I _know_ I don’t.” Rose leaned back ever so slightly to give Luisa a better view, hoping that it would cause the woman to react again, but all she got in return was a not-so-subtle look of longing and a sigh. “Unfortunately for _you_ , you can’t take advantage of it.”

“Says who?” Luisa asked, only to be interrupted by Mia.

“Come _on_!” Mia said, tugging on Rose’s hand. “You have to try on the other ones, too! You promised!”

“Alright, alright.” Rose interlaced her fingers with Mia’s and squeezed her hand once. She stayed where she was just long enough to watch Luisa give her another once over and heave another huge sigh, and then she gave Luisa a little wave with her unoccupied hand before returning with Mia back to the dressing room. “Okay,” she said to the small girl in front of her as she crouched down again to her eye level. “Which outfit do you want me to try on first?”

Mia’s eyes widened with glee and she danced into the dressing room and pulled down a shirt and skirt combo before handing them to Rose. “ _These_ first!” Her brown eyes were wide and bright as she sat down in her little chair once more to wait. “And you can get out of that awful dress!”

Rose shut Mia outside of the dressing room and began to change. Despite the idea that the cream-colored dress with the gold accents wasn’t something she was likely to wear very often at all, she placed it to one side. Who knew? Maybe she’d find another occasion to wear it while she was here for the next few days, even if it was only to get the hotel owner all hot and bothered.

* * *

There were a lot of different outfits to try on, and while Mia (and Luisa, too) had obviously picked some outfits just for a good laugh (particularly the large Winnie the Pooh costume fully equipped with stomach padding for additional fluff in which they had _demanded_ a group photo before pushing Rose back into the dressing room for different outfits), some weren’t completely horrible. Most of them weren’t anything she would have picked for herself, although having gone through her clothes already, Luisa seemed to have an eye for stuff she was more likely to actually like. The dress didn’t stay in a pile by itself; as Rose tried on more outfits, a few select pieces made their way over, too, until she had a little pile of clothes that she wanted to buy just due to her own personal preference.

After a while, Luisa had joined Mia in waiting outside the dressing room. At first, the mother-daughter duo had seemed to take turns with who was waiting. Sometimes Mia would wait while Rose tried on her clothes, and sometimes Luisa would, and whoever wasn’t waiting was off gathering more outfits. But it seemed they had grown tired of the chase (or maybe it was that they’d gone through all the clothes racks already), and Mia was almost nodding off sitting in her chair by the time Rose reached the last outfit.

Somehow Rose hadn’t noticed the powder blue zoot suit among all of the other clothes that had been gathered, but now that she was seeing it, she couldn’t stop the muffled huff of shock passing through her open lips. She opened the dressing room just enough to poke her head around it and hold the zoot suit outside of the room. “Alright, who picked this?”

“I wondered where that was!” Mia said, suddenly perking up. “I saw it when I was getting other stuff and then when I went back to get it it was gone!”

“Because _I_ got it,” Luisa said with a smug smile. She pushed the suit back inside and tapped Rose squarely in the center of her forehead. “So I guess you can say we _both_ picked it. I was just faster.”

“I saw it first,” Mia grumbled.

“But you didn’t _get_ it, did you?”

Rose groaned as she closed the door behind her, hanging the suit back up on one of the hangers. “I really am just your human Barbie doll for the day, aren’t I?”

“Yes,” Luisa said, and although they’d really only known each other the one day, Rose could easily imagine the smile accompanying the word. It was all in the smug tone in her voice.

“I can’t believe a hotel owner would treat her customer this way.”

“You said you were allowing it. Blame yourself.”

Rose could imagine Luisa leaning against the wall as she said that but knew just as well that there was no way the hotel owner was doing that. It was her own sort of stance, the kind of reaction _she_ would have if she had gotten someone else to do all of these clothes changes for her own amusement. She knew because she’d done this sort of thing before on a smaller scale with some of her other girlfriends, although they hadn’t been nearly as accommodating as she had been throughout this whole experience.

“I’m still blaming the two of you,” Rose said as she fixed the pants, the billowy white shirt, and the suit jacket. She hummed a little bit to herself – more of a _hm_ than a hum – and opened the dressing room door a little bit again. Not enough to see anything much, especially not when she poked her head out. “Do either of you have a little black ribbon?”

“A black ribbon?” Luisa echoed, raising her eyebrows. “I don’t think so.”

“Nope!” Mia raised her arms, empty. “But I’ll go see if they have one at the front!” She scampered off without a second thought.

“What do you need one for?” Luisa asked, her eyes warily meeting Rose’s.

Rose gave a little shrug with a grin. “Well, it would complete the whole look you two are going for here.”

“We’re going for a specific look?”

“It’s a zoot suit,” Rose retorted. “Of course you’re going for a look. Don’t pretend you aren’t.” She stuck her tongue out at the hotel owner, just as Mia came scampering back with a black ribbon threaded between her fingers.

“Here!” Mia handed the ribbon over. “This is what you needed, right?”

“This works just perfectly, Mia. Thank you.” Rose turned to Luisa with a smug expression of her own before slipping back into the dressing room. She may not have the right shoes for the outfit – or the right _hat_ , because this would look wonderful with a matching hat – but she could definitely make the look as perfect as possible. She tied the black ribbon in a neat little bowtie just under the white shirt collar. Then she looked herself over in the mirror once, gave a little nod, and threw open the dressing room door. It hit the side with a slam!

“Did ya miss me?” Rose asked, her hands spread out in front of her.

Mia jumped in her seat at the slam of the door, but then she saw Rose and her mouth literally dropped open. Luisa reached over to lift her daughter’s chin so that her mouth closed again. It was only then that she fully turned to look at Rose.

Rose knew from the mirror that the powder blue zoot suit fit her beautifully, as though it had been made for her. It accentuated her chest, as did the ruffle from the white flowing shirt they’d brought her to with the suit. There were white poofs – more of the flowery pirate type accent – on the end of the shirt just outside of the blue suit, and the black bowtie looked _good_ , an echoing accent of the black buttons both on the shirt and on the suit itself.

Luisa stepped forward, and it took the slightest hesitation before her fingers brushed the black ribbon bowtie just under the shirt’s collar. “So this is what you wanted.”

Rose’s lips curved into an easy smirk. This was so much better than the reaction the dress had gotten. It was all too _easy_. “Yes,” she said, her voice soft. “What do you think?”

Luisa’s fingers continued to play with the ribbon tied around Rose’s neck, and she tried not to look up. “It looks nice.”

“Do you think the blue brings out my eyes?”

Luisa looked up without even thinking, and as her eyes paused on Rose’s lips, she bit her lower lip. Then she looked up, meeting Rose’s eyes. “Yes.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

“And my hair?” Rose asked. She reached around and pulled her mass of curls into an improvised bun so that it exposed her long neck. “Or do you think it would be better pulled up like this?”

“Um.” Luisa’s head tilted to the side as her eyes began to wonder again. Her fingers moved from the black ribbon to trace one of the little black buttons on the white shirt. “Without a hat,” she murmured, “I think it’s better down.” She reached over and moved Rose’s hand from her hair so that her curls dropped to her shoulders again. Then Luisa brushed her hands through Rose’s hair, as though trying to get it into just the right position. “I like it a lot better like this.” She looked up, briefly meeting Rose’s eyes again. “Don’t you?”

“ _I_ think it looks better down,” Mia said, and all at once the spell was broken again. Luisa stepped back and turned to face her daughter, who was still sitting in her chair, hands under her knees, swinging her legs. She looked from Luisa to Rose and back again. “Even with a hat. Although I don’t know if they have a matching hat. I could go look for one?”

“ _Yes_ , yes, you go,” Luisa started and swallowed once and then nodded, “you go look for a matching hat. And Rose will, ah, change out of this nonsense.”

“Aw, Mom! What’s the point in finding a hat if she’s gonna change?” Mia stopped all at once, pouting.

“Don’t worry,” Rose said, glancing around Luisa’s shoulder. “I’ll buy it. You can see me in it with the hat later.”

Mia grinned as soon as Rose mentioned that she was buying the suit, and she immediately scampered off into the store again to look for the hat.

Rose’s voice lowered again as soon as Mia’d run off. “Nonsense, hm?” She reached over, slowly turning Luisa’s face so that she was looking at her again. “That bad?”

“Worse than the dress,” Luisa murmured, but her eyes were glancing down again, fingers brushing along one of the shiny black buttons. Her lips parted _just so_ as she did, and she licked her lips, head tilting to one side.

“Mmhm.” Rose’s fingers brushed along Luisa’s cheek. “Makes you want to just rip it all off, doesn’t it?” Her thumb ran down Luisa’s lips, holding them open just long enough for her to bend down towards her. Luisa shivered once, and her eyes closed.

Rose smiled.

Then she stepped back into the dressing room and shut the door behind her, leaving Luisa standing alone outside.

* * *

When Rose returned after changing back into the clothes Luisa had so carefully picked out for her earlier that day with a small pile of clothes she’d decided to buy in her arms, Luisa was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Mia was back to sitting on the metal chair outside the dressing rooms, legs swinging back and forth with her hands under her knees and a powder blue hat with a black ribbon sitting neatly in her lap. Rose shifted the clothes in her arms. “Where’s your mom?”

“She said she needed to go outside for a breath of fresh air,” Mia said, and fortunately for Rose, she didn’t catch the all too smug smirk on her face. “I found your hat. Only, it’s not _your_ hat yet, but it goes with the suit.” She took the hat in her hands and jumped from the chair. “You want it?”

“Why don’t you carry it for me?” Rose asked. She shifted the clothes in her arms again – there weren’t _that_ many of them, but it was enough that carrying them all at once without a bag was a little unwieldy, especially if she was planning on going through the rest of the shop, which she had no reason necessarily to do except that shopping, this close to the holidays, would be terrifying anywhere else – and who knew what she might find in a thrift shop in the middle of nowhere? “Do you know a place where I can put these while we look around?”

Mia pressed her tiny lips together, brow furrowing in a manner almost identical to the one Luisa sometimes wore when she was thinking. “We can see if Lydia’ll let us leave them at the counter!” she said all at once. “She’s good about watching stuff sometimes if you want to come back for it even though she doesn’t like doing it with clothes but she’ll probably do it for you since we’re still in the store and everything.”

“Alright, kid,” Rose said. “Lead me to Lydia.”

Mia scampered off to the front of the store, and Rose followed at a slightly slower pace behind her, careful to keep the clothes in her arms and not dropping them on the floor. Mia led her to the front of the store, to a glass counter beneath which Rose could see various old video games and systems with differing price tags along with a few pieces of jewelry – things that people were probably more likely to steal if they had a chance. “Hey, Lydia!” Mia rapped on the glass so that the woman behind the counter would turn around to face them. “Can we leave these here while we shop?”

The woman behind the counter was short, with deep brown hair in a bowl cut and glasses. She turned around and blinked once at Mia before looking at Rose with the bundle of clothes in her arms. “You want you should buy all of that?”

“Yes,” Rose said with a firm nod. “But I wanted to look around and see if there was anything else that I liked—”

“If someone stays to watch it, then it can stay. Otherwise, I’ll start putting all of it back up.”

“Awwwwwww, _Lydia_ ,” Mia started, but her puppy-eyed expression did nothing for the woman behind the counter, who had already turned away from them and returned to whatever else it was she had been doing behind the counter. Mia propped herself up so that she could sit on the counter – something that Lydia probably wouldn’t like, but right now, Rose didn’t particularly care enough to chastise the girl. “I’ll watch ‘em,” Mia said with a pout. “Mom and I have been through the store a thousand times. It’s not like anything really changes, and when it does, someone at school’s seen it before I do and I hear about it to come look.” Her eyes met Rose’s because sitting on the counter, she was quite a bit taller. “I don’t want to keep you from looking when you’re probably only gonna be here the one time.”

“Thank you, Mia.” Rose reached over and gave the little girl’s hand a squeeze. “I’ll find a way to make it up to you. Trust me.”

“With a present?” Mia asked, her little brown eyes growing big and wide.

Rose laughed. “I don’t know about that. But I’ll figure something out.” She grinned and tapped one finger on Mia’s nose. “What would you want? If you could have anything in the world.”

Mia bit on her lower lip. “A little brother,” she said, voice soft. “But I don’t think you can get me that.”

“Ah.” Rose gave a firm little nod. “No, I don’t think I can. You should talk to your mom about that one.”

“But I don’t think Mom wants one either,” Mia said with a sigh. “She says I’m enough but _I_ want a brother. To play with! And to cuddle with. And to introduce to all of my friends so we can all be friends together!” Her face brightened, and she grinned.

“Is there anything else you want?” Rose asked, trying to change the subject as easily as possible without the little girl across from her noticing. “Like a puppy? Or a kitten?”

“Oh, I’d love a puppy!”

Rose patted one of Mia’s knees. “So maybe _that_.” She nodded once. “You stay here and watch this, okay?”

“And you’ll get me a puppy?” Mia asked as Rose turned away to go through the rest of the store.

“I didn’t say that!”

Rose pretended not to hear anything else Mia was saying as she walked away, which wasn’t too hard considering that Mia was mostly talking to herself about possible names she would give her new puppy if she _got_ a new puppy and then chattering to herself about whether she liked puppies or kitties better and _maybe she liked kitties better_ —

Okay, so maybe Rose could still hear a lot of Mia’s chatter, but it faded away the further she got into the store, not because Mia stopped talking but because Rose was far enough away that she couldn’t hear it anymore. Most of the rest of the first floor was clothing, and there was a lot of furniture and shoes, but not anything that Rose wanted to spend time looking at. There were quite possibly other clothes that she would like in the store, but given just how much time she’d spent trying on everything Mia and Luisa’s hearts had desired, she was more than a little tired of the clothes shopping aspect of things. Instead, she found the stairwell in the back of the store and moved to the second floor.

The second floor was full of all sorts of trinkets. There was a section for used dishes and a wall full of old dvds and video tapes, but Rose ignored those. If she wanted any of that sort of thing, it would be best to get it on her own, somewhere far away from here, much closer to her actual apartment. She started towards the trinkets. Since it was Christmas, or growing near to it, the thrift shop seemed to have gone all out. Most of the current trinkets were holiday oriented – ornaments or stars or nativities (and Rose picked up one of the little baby Jesus dolls briefly before placing him back in his porcelain manger, noting the chip on his shoulder that matched the nick in the manger’s golden straw) – but it wasn’t until she reached the third aisle that she found them – the nutcrackers.

Rose’s breath caught in her throat.

There weren’t very many of them at all. Most of them were old. Their paint was peeling or faded. Their fluffy beards – mostly white – drooped. Some of them were missing beards entirely. Others were likely meant to be younger men and so likely never had beards at all. A handful, scattered among them, were characters from other movies or tv shows – mostly cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, or Scrooge McDuck, although there were also others – like Kermit and Miss Piggy from the Muppets. It was not to the cartoon caricature nutcrackers that Rose was drawn, though, but to a set of three that seemed to match which were placed to one side. They were smaller – a young man with sharp black eyes, a mouse with a golden crown on top of his head, and a young woman with curly gold hair and covered in silver glitter. The mouse seemed to have longer teeth than the other two; the young woman had circles of red painted on her cheeks; and the young man carried what looked to be a toy gun. Rose crouched down in front of them and reached out one hand, tracing intricate designs on the young woman’s sparkling silver dress.

It was there that Luisa found her some undetermined time later. Rose couldn’t say how long it had been. She hadn’t really been keeping track of the time. She startled as Luisa tapped her shoulder. “We need to go if we’re going to get a Christmas tree,” Luisa said as she crouched down next to Rose. “It’ll get dark soon, and we still have to walk there and look around.” She tapped one of the wooden nutcrackers – the young man, right on top of his big black soldier’s hat. “Did you get to see everything?” she asked.

“No,” Rose said with an abrupt shake of her head. She stood, brushing dust from her jeans, but she kept the set of three nutcrackers with her. “I got distracted.”

“You like them?” Luisa asked, following Rose’s gaze to the nutcrackers she still hadn’t let out of her grasp. “Are you one of those people who collect nutcrackers? I didn’t think you’d be one of—”

“My mom did.” Rose wasn’t normally much of one for interruptions, but she didn’t want to have this conversation. Not right now. Not at all, if she could help it.

Something in her tone must have communicated that to Luisa well enough, because all the hotel owner said in reply was a soft little, “Ah.” She nodded once and smiled. “C’mon. Bring them with you, and I’ll get them for you.”

“I can get them myself,” Rose said, but while she knew that was true, she also knew that she really had no reason to buy the little nutcrackers. Their paint was faded, although not as bad as some of the others. They weren’t really anything to look at, and while she _knew_ why she wanted them, it wasn’t anything she could explain to the hotel owner. She certainly didn’t want to be in her debt where they were concerned. She started through the thrift store back to the stairwell, but Luisa placed a hand on hers.

“What?”

“My mom,” Luisa started, and her voice dropped. She bit her lower lip and then shook her head. “You don’t want to talk about it.”

“No, I don’t.”

Luisa grabbed Rose’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Just because you _can_ get something yourself doesn’t mean you _have_ to get something yourself. Sometimes it’s okay to let someone else carry things for you, if you’re not strong enough to carry everything yourself. And sometimes even when you are.”

“They’re just nutcrackers at a thrift store,” Rose said, her voice tight, jaw clenching. “I’m pretty sure I can take care of them myself.”

“I know. I just—”

“Luisa.” Rose stopped and turned around so that Luisa’s hand dropped from hers. “I just met you yesterday. If I needed help, trust me, you wouldn’t be the person I wanted.” She clenched her teeth together. “Now can you drop it?”

“Yeah. Of course. Of course I can drop it.” Luisa ran a hand through her long brown hair – the strands of it that had pulled loose from her untidy little ponytail – and pushed them back behind one ear. “I can drop it. Don’t worry about it. I won’t bring it up again.”

If she were anyone else, Rose might have stayed and waited to make sure that Luisa was alright, but Rose wasn’t like that. Instead, she turned and stormed down the stairs the same way Mia might if she were upset with her mother. Her boots didn’t make as loud of a clunking noise s she knew Mia’s might – and certainly there was no scuffing, no knocking of her feet against each step as she continued to move, nearly slipping on the last step.

She was being a little selfish, she knew. She just didn’t care.

Rose made her way to the front of the store where Mia still sat on top of the counter, knocking her little pink boots against the glass case with a grin on her face. “Mom found you!” She looked at the nutcrackers in Rose’s arms. “What are those?” she asked, her brown eyes big and round. “Are those nutcrackers? Why are you getting nutcrackers? Are we gonna put them up with _our_ Christmas decorations, or are you going to take them up to your room to decorate? Do you just like nutcrackers?”

Luisa made it down before Mia took a breath or gave room for Rose to say anything or reply at all. She placed a hand on Mia’s knee. “She doesn’t want to talk about it, dear.”

Rose heard an echo of something – a _darling_ instead of a _dear_ – and she shook her head. That wasn’t what Luisa said, so she didn’t know why she felt as though she heard it.

“She didn’t tell _me_ she didn’t want to talk about it!” Mia didn’t look at her mom at all, instead turning to look at Rose, who had begun to put the nutcrackers with her pile of clothes. “If you didn’t want to talk about it, you should have told me. You wouldn’t be bothering me.”

“It’s fine.” Rose leaned over the counter and tapped the woman who was bent down behind them and not paying attention. She could remember what her name was – Olivia? maybe? – and when the woman turned around, she gave an expression that seemed as though she was apologetic for bothering her, even if she wasn’t really apologetic at all. She’d learned to fake it. That sort of thing seemed to go over well with people who would otherwise dislike how she was acting. “Sorry for bothering you, but I’d like to check out, if that’s okay with you.”

“Yeah, sure, dear.” The woman with the brown bowl cut hairstyle began to take the nutcrackers – _three_ , Rose saw her make a note – and then wrapped them in some of the shirts Rose had decided to buy before placing them in a bag so that they wouldn’t be harmed. Then she began to count the other shirts.

“It’s _not_ fine,” Mia continued, her lips pursing into a scowl. “You let me keep asking even though you weren’t happy about it and I don’t want to make you unhappy. I _like_ you, so you’re supposed to let me know just like _I_ got told to let people know when they’re doing something that makes _me_ unhappy and Mom lets me know when I do something that makes her unhappy so you should let me know, too. And it makes me unhappy when you just keep letting me talk about things that are making you unhappy so you have to let me—”

“ **Stop.** ”

The word – angry, frustrated – barked through Rose’s lips before she could stop herself, and right now it didn’t matter if she thought about it or not. Her jaw clenched, teeth gritting together, and she was certain her eyes were darker when she turned from her pile of clothes to face the little girl still sitting on the counter. “Just _stop_. Now.”

Mia’s dark brown eyes were wider than she’d ever seen them – wider even than _pipsqueak_ and the drop into the huge pile of snow. Her lower lip began to quiver again, and her eyes filled with tears. As Rose continued to stare at her, unblinking, Mia bit on her lower lip to try and keep it still, and she rubbed one arm across her eyes. It didn’t help. Her skin was growing blotchy, big red blush spots that connected her darker freckles across her lighter skin.

“Hey.” Luisa moved one hand on top of Mia’s and rubbed gently. “Come here.”

“I’m not crying.” Mia sniffled and rubbed her arm across her eyes again. It didn’t help matters at all. Her eyes were still extremely bloodshot and puffy, even if she was trying to keep the tears from tracking down her cheeks.

“I know.” Luisa cupped her daughter’s face with one hand. “I know.” She moved to wrap her arms around her daughter, and when she did, Mia wrapped hers around Luisa’s neck. Then Mia scooted forward, and Luisa just held her for a second. She turned to Rose, and her eyes were hard to read, as was her expression. It wasn’t _mad_ – Rose knew what _mad_ looked like, and whatever it was Luisa was feeling, this wasn’t it – disappointed, maybe? Although Luisa had no reason to be disappointed in her or in either of them.

“We’re going to wait outside for you, okay?”

“Do we have to wait?” Mia muttered into Luisa’s neck. “Can’t we just go get our tree by ourselves?”

“No, dear.” Luisa rubbed a hand up and down Mia’s back. “We can’t just leave Rose here by herself.”

Mia just nodded into her mom’s neck and burrowed her head a little further into that crook just by her shoulder.

“And Rose?”

“Hm?”

Luisa opened her mouth, shut it, bit her lower lip, and then shook her head. “Never mind. I shouldn’t have bothered you. We can take you back to the hotel before getting the tree.”

“ _No_ ,” Mia moaned. “Then it’ll be too dark and we won’t get a tree until tomorrow and by the time we get there all the good ones will be gone.”

Luisa patted Mia’s back but didn’t say anything to her, instead continuing to face Rose. “Let me know when you get out. We’ll be waiting.”

Mia continued to complain unhappily about the idea of putting off getting the tree, but whatever she was saying was muffled against Luisa’s skin. It was only when they were crossing through the door that Mia looked up, and her bloodshot eyes glared in Rose’s direction.

“You should apologize,” the brown-haired woman behind the counter said as she finished packaging Rose’s things. The nutcrackers wrapped in shirts were in their own little bag and the rest were carefully folded and placed in another – even the dress and the suit, which by all means would have been better hung up than folded. The suit’s matching hat and the little black ribbon were placed just as carefully on top of the folded clothes. “The girl didn’t mean any harm.”

Rose’s teeth gritted unpleasantly together again, and the muscle in her cheek showed as her jaw clenched. She could see it in the mirror reflection of her face on the glass counter, could see the way her bright blue eyes flashed. The child cried because she was weak, because she’d pushed and Rose had snapped like any reasonable person would have done if someone had continued to press them when they clearly didn’t want to talk. Better that Mia learn that now, when she was young and it didn’t matter as much, than in the future when it could have much worse consequences than being snapped at by a stranger she’d only just met yesterday.

Not that it was _Rose’s_ job to train the child. That was _Luisa’s_ job. And if Luisa had taught her daughter to keep her mouth shut, it wouldn’t have happened in the first place.

“How much is everything?” Rose asked, her voice much more pleasant than the tone she’d used only moments before. When the woman behind the counter finally looked up to face her instead of folding the clothes or calculating the price, Rose had changed her expression from angry and frustrated to as pleasant as could be. It was off-putting. She _knew_ it was.

“Thirty dollars and seventy-five cents,” the woman said.

Rose paid her as quickly as possible. With cash, instead of a card, though, so that it took a little longer as she counted through the coins in her back pocket – there weren’t many to begin with, and by the time she was finished paying, there weren’t many left at all. She could probably find more in the cup holders of her rental car or on top of the dresser back in her hotel room; she was in the habit of leaving her change in either of those places when she had it and rarely carried very much with her except for emergencies, such as now.

When she was done paying, Rose took her two bags – neither of which were particularly heavy – and headed out the door. Luisa was standing there waiting for her, but Mia was nowhere to be seen. “She’s making a snow angel,” Luisa said, looking back to the door and seeing Rose.

“I didn’t ask.”

“I know.”

Luisa’s arms were crossed across her chest, and her head was lowered. She scuffed the toe of her right brown boot on the pavement. “She’s feeling better, but not much.”

“Again, I didn’t ask.”

“I know.”

Luisa let out a huff, and her breath became a little cloud in the cold air. She looked up towards the ceiling of the thrift shop’s little overhang and watched as the cloud faded away. “She wants to go get our tree before we head back.”

“Then go get your tree.” Rose shuffled the bags in her hand. “I can make it back to the hotel on my own.”

“She wants you to come with us.”

“Even after all of that in there?” Rose asked. “I thought she’d want nothing to do with me for another five or ten minutes.” She grinned when Luisa looked back to face her, an expression that was meant to convey that she was joking. She didn’t think that Luisa understood that, though. She sighed. “If you want me to, I’ll go. Just don’t expect me to be down for dinner.”

“I’ll bring it up to your room.”

“I can order something.” Rose watched as Luisa’s expression changed, as the hotel owner tugged her bottom lip between her front two teeth and gave a little clicking noise – likely by tapping her tongue against her teeth. “You _do_ have restaurants that will bring food directly to the hotel, don’t you?” Rose asked, her head tilting to one side.

“Yes, but I don’t know if they’ll deliver in this weather.”

Rose’s eyes narrowed. “It’s perfectly clear.”

“For now.” Luisa started forward. “If we’re going to get a tree, we need to go get it now. It’ll get dark soon, and we want to make sure we have someone who will drive us back before then.”

“What happens when it gets dark?” Rose asked as she followed Luisa.

Luisa shook her head, swallowing. “Nothing horror movie like or anything like that. No murderers or serial killers or kidnappings. We’re not _that_ kind of small town. Most of us just like to be home with our families when it gets dark. We’re all a little like that up here.” She shrugged. “Restaurants might be open, but a lot of them don’t like to send their drivers out. Not in the snow, not after dark, even when it looks nice.”

Rose nodded. When she got to pace with Luisa, she knocked into her side once. “You’ll bring dinner up?”

Luisa looked over to Rose, glancing up through her eyelashes to focus on her, to meet Rose’s eyes. Her eyes were dark, but this close, Rose could see a thread of forest green near her pupils. “Yes,” she said with a slight nod. “You’re my customer. I’ll take care of you.” She looked away. “Nothing more.”

“Are you planning on decorating the tree when we get back?”

“Yes,” Luisa said, pausing. “Why does it matter? You said you didn’t want to come down for dinner.”

Rose sighed. “Let me change and eat, and I’ll help you decorate.”

“What if we don’t want your help?”

Rose met Luisa’s eyes again, and her lips pressed together. Then she gave a little nod. “It’s a family thing. I get it. I don’t want to intrude.”

“I don’t want you to snap at my daughter again over something she couldn’t guess would be _wrong_.” Luisa’s eyes drifted over to a pile of snow where Rose could see boot prints. She guessed that was where Mia was now, making her snow angels, or maybe waiting with more snowballs to attack them as soon as they got close.

Rose shifted the bags on her arms again. “I don’t make promises,” she said, and when Luisa looked over to her, she gave a shrug. “There’s nothing _wrong_ with ornaments or tree decorating.”

“Just nutcrackers.”

“Just nutcrackers,” Rose repeated.

“And if we have nutcracker ornaments?” Luisa asked, her voice raising.

“She won’t ask, will she?” Rose wanted to shove her hands into her jeans pockets, but with her bags in her hands, that prevented her from doing so. She glanced towards the boot prints again. “You don’t _have_ nutcracker ornaments, do you?”

“I don’t remember. We have a lot of Christmas-y things.” Luisa let out a breath. “And she won’t ask.”

“I won’t intrude if she doesn’t want me there.” Rose quickly continued, amending, “If _you_ don’t want me there.”

Luisa nodded, but she didn’t say anything more, instead trekking over to the boot prints in the snow. “Mia. Time to go.”

There wasn’t much movement on the other side of the prints, and Luisa stepped over the pile towards where Rose was certain her daughter was laying. Rose followed and was met with an image of Mia, back down in the snow, tears frozen to her cheeks in little sparkles, eyes still more than a little bloodshot. She looked up and met Rose’s eyes as Rose peered over the pile and then she stuck her tongue out at her.

“Hey, kid.”

Mia turned away, refusing to face her. “We’re supposed to take you back to the hotel, aren’t we?” She sniffled. “So we don’t get a tree. Not until tomorrow.” She rubbed her gloved hand across her nose.

Rose shifted the bags in her hands again, and as she stepped over the piles of snow, she acted as though they weighed so much they were pulling her down. “These are so _heavy_ ,” she said with a frown. “I’d love to go with you, but I don’t think I can carry both of these the whole way.”

“Mom can help you.” Mia looked at the bags. “You don’t want me carrying your nutcrackers. I’ll drop them. And then you’ll yell at me again.”

Luisa gave Rose a strong look, but she didn’t say anything.

Rose slowly tugged up the bag with the nutcrackers and gave a little huff. “I think I can carry _this_ one if someone else holds the other one.”

Luisa reached over and pretended to tug on the bag of clothes. “I don’t think I can—” She let go with a huff, and Rose dropped the bag almost into the snow before making a big show of pulling it back up again. “It’s _too heavy_ ,” Luisa said with a pout. “I guess we’re going to have to go back so Rose can drop those off.”

“No!” Mia yelled, sitting up in her snow angel, hands plopping in her lap. “We _have_ to go _now_ , or it’s gonna be too dark!”

“Then I guess we’ll have to wait until tomorrow,” Luisa said with a sigh, turning away and starting to climb back over the piles of snow. “ _We_ certainly can’t carry these all the way there.”

Rose sighed. “Sorry, kid,” she said as she turned away. “I _really_ wanted to help you pick out your tree today, but I guess it’ll just have to wait.”

“No!”

There was the sound of shuffling behind them, and when Rose turned, she could see that Mia’s frantic scurrying had broken the edges of her snow angel – not that it had been much of an angel figure to begin with. Mia reached towards Rose’s bag then stopped and looked up. “Let me try,” she said, her voice eager but soft, as though afraid of provocation. “I can carry it. I’m stronger than Mom is. Most of the time.” Mia tried to smile and then rubbed the back of her hand across her nose again, sniffling once.

“I don’t know,” Rose said, trying to pull up on the bag. “It’s _awfully_ heavy.”

“Please?” Mia asked again. Her brown eyes were big and still a little puffy from her crying earlier. “I can do it. I _promise_.”

Rose gave a huge sigh. “Okay,” she said, the word dragging out, “but if you get hurt trying to carry it, it’s not my fault.” She turned to meet Luisa’s eyes, and Luisa shook her head rapidly. Then Rose held the bag out to Mia. “Here.”

Mia reached out and took the bag as Rose carefully handed it over. As Mia took the bag from her, Rose let out another huge sigh of feigned relief. “ _Phew_.” She rubbed the back of her hand across her forehead, as though drying off sweat. “ _Thank_ you, Mia.” She looked down at the bag in the small girl’s hands. “You’re sure it’s not too heavy?”

“No, not at all!” Mia chirruped. She lifted the bag as though it weighed nothing – because, in reality, it _did_ , comparatively speaking – with a big grin on her face, the whites of her eyes slowly growing a little less bloodshot. “It’s not heavy at _all_. You and Mom are _weak sauce_.” She heaved the bag over one shoulder and proudly strode out of the piles of snow onto the sidewalk. “So we can go get a tree now, right?”

“I guess so,” Rose said, heaving the bag with the nutcrackers up and carrying it over her shoulder in a clear mimicry of Mia’s actions. Her eyes widened. “This is a lot easier for carrying _this_ bag, too!”

“ _Told_ you I was good at carrying stuff!” Mia grinned and turned to Luisa. “We’re gonna go get a tree now, right, Mom?”

“Of course,” Luisa said, reaching over and tugging off Mia’s hat so she could ruffle her daughter’s hair.

“ _Mo-om!_ ” Mia raised one hand and swatted at her mother’s messing with her hair, and as soon as Luisa put her hat back down, Mia took its edges between both of her hands and pulled it down so hard that it almost went over her dark brown eyes. She looked up at Rose and blinked. “You have to keep her from doing that or I might drop your bag.”

“But _I’m_ carrying _this_ bag!” Rose exclaimed with a feigned expression of shock. “It’s so heavy! How am I supposed to protect you while I’m carrying _this_?”

Mia frowned and didn’t say anything, instead looking up at her mom with a clear pout. “Don’t do that!” She held up the bag in her hands, clearly indicating her inability to protect herself. “It’s not fair!”

“Life’s not fair,” Luisa said, a little too solemnly, and then reached down and tweaked Mia’s nose before pressing a kiss where her fingers had been only a few moments before. “Let’s go get your tree.”

* * *

The tree farm was on the far end of town, near (and likely part of) one of the huge forests that surrounded the little lake. There wasn’t any appeal to the lake for Rose – she wasn’t an ice fisherman (fisher _wo_ man), and the normal glowing algae that coated the rocks and lay just beneath the surface that would glow when it was disturbed or the jellyfish that would also light up when _they_ were disturbed and made everything seem like it was covered in pixie dust – well, when she was younger, it might have been interesting, but as an adult, she didn’t care…as much. Besides, it was far too cold and the lake far too iced over for her to be able to see any of that. Even though the bags themselves weren’t particularly heavy, by the time they reached the farm, Rose had grown all too tired of carrying hers, tired of having to keep one hand clenched on it the entire time. She’d moved the loop of the plastic bag to her arm so that she could stick her hands in her jeans pockets, but she could still feel it dragging on her arm as she walked.

As she watched, glancing over every now and again on the walk there, Rose noticed that Mia was having trouble carrying the other bag as well, even though – with all of the clothes – it still weighed less than the one Rose was carrying. Sometimes, she would pull on Luisa’s arm as though asking for help, and eventually, Luisa picked her daughter up. She held Mia in her arms, and Mia burrowed her head in Luisa’s neck again, only popping out every now and again to look over at Rose or interject something into their conversation.

Once, Mia stuck her tongue out at Rose, but when Rose stuck hers out in return, Mia hid her face. Luisa got the full effect instead, and she feigned open-mouthed shock because how _dare_ Rose stick her tongue out at her _hotel owner_ , how _unfair_. Rose tried to give Mia a cold-hearted glare, but Mia just giggled into her mom’s neck.

As soon as they reached the tree farm, however, Mia struggled in her mom’s arms. “Let me down, let me down!” She pulled back out from her mom’s neck and pressed a tiny kiss right on the tip of Luisa’s nose, just as Luisa had given to Mia only a little while earlier.

Rose’s eyes focused on the warm wooden cabin with what looked to be a golden glow through its windows, and she let out a sigh of relief. _Warmth._ She turned to Luisa as the other woman put her daughter down. “Tell me there’s a fireplace in there.”

“Look up,” Luisa said as she followed her daughter, who was running towards the cabin with a sudden burst of renewed strength.

 _Of course._ Coming from the cabin’s chimney was a huge pillar of dark smoke – _fire_. Rose picked her bag up a little further and, despite how _uncool_ it might make her look, hurried after the hotel owner and her daughter.

When they got inside, Rose collapsed on one of the comfy armchairs just in front of the fireplace, pulling her gloves off so that she could warm her freezing hands by the fire. Mia stood near the counter, holding herself up on top of it with her arms, short little feet kicking at the wooden paneling. Her curly red hair bounced against her back as she tried to stare behind the counter. “Hello?” she asked, dropping from the counter with a bang of her pink boots on the floor. She dinged the bell on the counter. “We’re here to get a tree!”

Luisa crumpled into one of the chairs next to Rose, letting out a huge sigh of relief. She leaned forward, elbows on her knees, and looked over to Rose. “Having fun?”

“I’m _freezing_ ,” Rose said in reply, still warming her hands over the fire. She glanced over to Mia. “Your daughter is a handful.”

“Yeah.” Luisa turned to her daughter and smiled fondly. “She’s not a _bit_ like her mother,” she said, turning back to face Rose. “Carla was quiet. Didn’t really talk to people much. She let me do all of the talking.” Luisa laughed a little bit, looking down at her hands. “Mia may look like her, but—”

“She acts like you,” Rose completed, voice soft. “Do you miss her?” she asked, still just as soft.

Luisa glanced up, curious as she met Rose’s eyes, searching as though to see if she could find any malice there. “Of course I do.” She looked back down to her hands. “Every day.”

Rose followed Luisa’s glance to her hands, noting the space on her finger where there should have been a wedding ring that was no longer there. “Is it okay to let Mia stay there and annoy them like that?” she asked, trying to change the subject. “Won’t they be frustrated with you?”

“No.” Luisa shook her head. “They know Mia. Besides, this way you and I can sit here and warm up a little bit before having to brave the cold again.” She leaned back in her comfy chair and let out a relaxed sigh. “Mia’s done this before. She knows what to do.” She turned to Rose with a grin. “That was good of you earlier, getting her to carry your bag.”

Rose shrugged. “I thought it was better to distract her with something fun than to let her stay upset.” Now that her hands were warm, she moved a little bit to warm her backside, getting up from her chair and sitting cross-legged on the floor just outside of the fire. “I didn’t mean to make her cry.”

“I know.” Luisa smiled, and her fingers began to fiddle together. “That, at least, was just like her mother. It was always easy to make Carla cry. She used to laugh about it – she’d cry when she was happy, when she was mad, when she was overwhelmed.” Luisa shook her head. “I do, too, sometimes. But not as much as Carla did.”

“You like talking about her more than I thought you would,” Rose said. “Is that okay?”

“Better than pretending she didn’t exist.” Luisa’s lips pressed together, then, and she looked away, back down at her hands, where they’d fallen between her knees. “Sometimes I think my family thinks that would be easier. But with Mia here, I can’t do that. Mia’s real, so Carla’s real, too. They don’t get to just erase her.”

Sufficiently warmed, Rose moved back into the seat next to Luisa’s. She reached over and placed a hand on both of the hotel owner’s. “No, they don’t.” Then she looked down almost as quickly as Luisa looked over to her. “My stepmother would have liked to do that with my mother.”

“I thought you didn’t want to talk about that.”

“I don’t.” Rose looked up and met Luisa’s eyes with a sad smile. “But I understand having family members who don’t understand – or don’t care – that their actions are hurting you. Elena couldn’t erase Mom because I existed. But she _tried_.” Rose’s other hand tightened its grip on the plastic bag with the nutcrackers. “She really, _really_ tried.”

Luisa reached over and brushed one of Rose’s red curls out of her face. Her fingers lingered as they traced the skin of Rose’s face. “Is that why—”

But Luisa didn’t get to finish her question. Instead, Mia scampered over to them with the clunk of her pink boots. “C’mon! They said we could go pick out a tree now if we hurried!” She swayed from side to side, her hands clasped behind her back with the bag of clothes held between them. “They also said we could have dinner with them before driving us back!”

As Mia spoke, Luisa’s hand jumped from Rose’s face as though it were flame hot. She turned to face her daughter as the girl spoke, but at the mention of dinner, she turned back to Rose. “Are you okay with that?”

Rose didn’t know what to feel. She’d already had a long day full of a huge lunch and shopping and fighting and dressing up and making a kid cry, and while she still had just enough energy to help them pick out a tree, that energy was quickly fading. Staying for dinner with another family was a whole other level of social that she didn’t think was such a great idea for her right now. “You stay,” she said, “and don’t feel like you have to leave early on my account.”

“No, it’s fine.” Luisa turned to Mia. “Tell them we’d love to stay for dinner, but we have a prior engagement. We really just want to get our tree right now.” She looked up with a grin, in spite of Mia’s answering scowl. “Go ahead, dear. Us old folks will get up and meet you over there in a minute.” She waved her off, and Mia just continued to scowl as she scampered away again, back to the counter where a willowy woman with light brown hair pulled up in a ponytail waited. The woman’s eyes moved briefly to meet Luisa’s and then from her over to Rose and then back to Mia, who chattered with her pleasantly.

Rose stood from her chair and _stretched_ until she could hear her lower back pop. She knew that from all of the walking around they’d done that day, she was going to be _sore_ tomorrow. Already she could feel her legs ache and complain even after just sitting down for a little while. She shifted her bag from one hand to the other and let out another sigh as she turned to Luisa. “Please tell me you’re not planning on taking me around town again tomorrow.”

“Oh, no,” Luisa said with a wry smile. “I was hoping we could postpone decorating the tree until then. We can stay inside all day, telling Christmas stories and drinking hot chocolate.”

“Not like Dee’s, I hope,” Rose said, mimicking Luisa’s grin.

“Of course not. We can’t do those every day.” Luisa made a motion as though to prod Rose’s stomach, but she stopped halfway there, almost as if she was suddenly realizing what she was doing. “At least today we’ll have walked off all those extra calories.”

“ _Ugh_ ” was all Rose said in reply.

When they got to the counter, the willowy woman, whose name Rose didn’t care to remember or even hear, led them to the back, where a bunch of Christmas trees of various sizes waited, still planted in the ground. “Pick whichever one you want,” she said, “and one of the boys will come and chop it down for you.” She gave Luisa and Rose a look over again. “Unless one of you girls wants to chop it down yourself.”

Normally, Rose would leap at the opportunity to cut down a tree, just like she expected Mia would if she were a little bit older. But after the long day she’d had, all Rose wanted was a nice long hot bubble bath to soothe her aching limbs. The problem was that she didn’t particularly want to admit how sore she was either or how _weak_ she felt.

Leave it to Mia, however, to take care of that for her.

“They’re too weak!” Mia exclaimed. She lifted the plastic bag of clothes she was still carrying with one hand. “They couldn’t even carry _this_! They _definitely_ can’t cut down a tree!”

“Well, then,” the woman said, “I’ll make sure the boys are waiting for you. And you’ll want one of them to drive the three of you back, won’t you?”

Luisa nodded once. “Yes, please. We wouldn’t want to be walking this tree all the way back to the hotel.”

The woman nodded. “Got it.” Then she left the three of them amid the farm.

Mia scampered away almost at once, and Rose was close behind her. Luisa was a little slower behind them, watching with a bright grin. It didn’t take long for Mia to find one she liked, and she stopped in front of it immediately. “ _This one_!” she said, her voice hushed with awe.

“Wow,” Rose said, staring at it. “Are you sure that one’ll fit?”

“It’ll fit,” Luisa said, very matter-of-fact. “Ours last year was a _little_ smaller, but it had plenty of room at the top. This one is perfect.” She leaned down to be on eye level with her daughter. “If you’re sure this is the one you want.”

“It is!” Mia looked to Rose, worried. “Don’t _you_ think it’s great?”

“It’s _perfect_ ,” Rose said, echoing Luisa, “just like your mom said. I can’t imagine a better tree for the inn.”

Luisa waved one of the “boys” over, and just like that, the tree was chopped down. They loaded it into their truck, and one of them got into the driver’s seat. Mia jumped into the shotgun position before anyone could protest, and Luisa and Rose got together in the back. By now, Rose had gotten her second bag back from Mia and she placed it, as well as the other one with the nutcrackers, down at her feet as the truck started to take them back to the hotel.

It wasn’t a long ride, but Rose was exhausted, and it wasn’t until they returned that she realized she’d dozed off, her head resting on Luisa’s shoulder. When the truck stopped, the other woman patted her shoulder gently, and Rose opened her eyes with a stifled yawn. Then she sat up with a shock and looked around her, only to find that it wasn’t so terrifying after all.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized when she realized what she’d done. “I didn’t mean to—”

“Don’t worry about it.” Luisa smiled just before getting out of the car. “Just go get some rest. It’s been a long day.”

Rose stifled another yawn, but she listened to what Luisa had to say. After taking her bags upstairs and without taking the time to unpack them, she flopped down on her huge bed and was out without a second thought – and without the dinner Luisa had promised her! But she didn’t feel hungry at all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter didn't get a full third read through, so my apologies if there are some minor grammar or spelling errors.

_“Rose.”_

_“Hm?”_

_The voice wasn’t one she recognized. Her eyes were closed, her head resting on something soft, plush – human, maybe. Someone brushed the red curls from her face. Their fingers continued through her hair, nails scratching lightly across her scalp. Instead of saying anything in response, whoever it was began to hum a simple tune, and just like the voice itself, Rose couldn’t quite place it._

_It seemed familiar. She didn’t know how or why._

_“Rose.”_

_A different voice this time, more insistent, and her eyes narrowed. She squirmed against the woman – and she understood as soon as she thought it, of course it was a woman! – but more as though she were having a bad dream and needed comforting. The humming stopped, and someone kissed her forehead so gently._

_They started to say her name again—_

But when Rose woke up, she was all alone in her hotel room. The light filtering through the windows blinded her bleary eyes, and she squinted, curling up beneath her blankets against the pillows she’d fallen asleep against and closing her eyes tight again in a futile attempt to return to her dream. Then she gave up and opened her eyes again, yawning and stretching her arms in front of her like a cat before snapping back, curling against the headboard, and staring up at the ceiling.

Her stomach rumbled.

She had no idea what time it was. There wasn’t anything in her refrigerator, not even useless bottles of water, and even if there was, she wasn’t sure she could cook anything. If only she had a bowl and some cereal and a little bit of milk, she would be fine. Or even just a bag of popcorn. Anything she could take back to her bed before curling up. But no. She knew better than to even try to look.

Rose crept out of her bed and immediately wished she hadn’t. Her legs ached from all of the walking of the day before, and she groaned at the idea of having to be up and moving much today. She raked a hand through her curls and made it barefoot to the door of her room before sneaking out and starting down the stairs. She wasn’t really _thinking_ so much as following intuition; there had to be a kitchen in the hotel somewhere for Luisa to offer her dinner, and maybe if she found the kitchen, she could find something to eat. An apple, maybe, that she could carry back up to her room.

She yawned again as she continued down the stairs, rubbing one hand across her eyes, and halfway down, she began to smell bacon and freshly cooked bread. Her stomach rumbled again, this time much more angrily, and she patted it once in an attempt to tell it to calm down. It only responded with another upset grumble and not so mediocre plea for some sort of sustenance.

At the bottom of the stairs, Rose was greeted with the sight of the hotel owner sitting in front of the still bare tree, surrounded by boxes and bins, a steaming cup of coffee – and on this level, she could smell that, too, mingling with the overpowering scent of bacon and bread – sitting just next to her. Luisa turned as though sensing her presence – or maybe she’d just heard her coming down the creaking stairs (there really was no creeping through this place) – and offered her a gentle smile. “Hungry?”

“No,” Rose started to say, but her stomach grumbled so loudly she was certain Luisa could hear it. She winced. “Why?” she continued, pretending that she hadn’t done anything to make Luisa guess otherwise. “Do you have anything?”

“What do you want?” Luisa asked, standing from the couch and stretching her arms above her head before relaxing again. “We have coffee. Cereal. Bacon. Eggs. Sausage. Biscuits.”

“That’s a lot of food for one person.”

“ _Two_ , if you count Mia,” Luisa said, and at the mere mention of the little redheaded girl, Rose was certain she would appear. But wherever Mia was, she stayed there, and when Rose’s eyes returned to Luisa, the other woman grinned. “She’ll still be asleep for another hour at least. She likes to sleep in. Especially after all of the excitement of yesterday.”

“What time is it?” Rose managed to croak, resisting the urge to rub her hand across her eyes again and rub the sleep from them.

“Seven-thirty.”

Not _too_ early, by Rose’s estimates. She guessed that it was likely the hunger that woke her earlier than she’d woken yesterday, because although her body could go so long before getting hungry, only having one meal and then skipping most of them due to flights and motion sickness and then being too exhausted to eat more than one meal the following day didn’t do well for her system. She raked a hand through her hair again then paused with her hand still shoved through her curls. “ _Three_ people if you count your customer.” There was a hint of a question to her tone, eyes raising a bit.

“C’mon.” Luisa moved around the couch and reached as though to take Rose’s hand before thinking better of it. “The kitchen’s this way.”

As she started to move away, Rose reached the rest of the way across and took her hand, interlacing their fingers, and Luisa paused. From behind, Rose couldn’t see her expression, but she could read the hesitation before Luisa gave her hand a gentle squeeze back. Then she led her through the hotel to the kitchen – one that appeared to be separate from whatever suite Luisa and Mia lived in. Briefly, Rose wondered if the hotel owner and her daughter had their own, but she didn’t ask. Maybe it didn’t matter, if Luisa cooked enough for her customers in the main kitchen, surely she could easily cook enough for her daughter and herself as well.

After everything Luisa had mentioned, Rose had imagined a huge spread of food, but while there was just as much as Luisa had described, it wasn’t in the overwhelmingly huge quantities Rose had come to imagine from the hotels she’d visited both in the states and abroad. As much as the scent of the bacon and the biscuits made her stomach rumble, Rose couldn’t see what it was she really wanted. She turned to Luisa. “You mentioned cereal?”

Luisa laughed, covering her face with one hand, and then pointed to one of the cupboards. “In there. The bowls are just—” She stopped and shook her head. “I’ll get the bowl. And a mug for your coffee. You _do_ want coffee, right?”

Rose nodded before sleepily making her way over to the cabinet where she hoped multiple different kinds of cereal waited for her.

Not Cheerios. Not Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Not—

“You have Kix?”

Rose pulled the orange box out of the cabinet just enough that she could turn to face Luisa, one eyebrow raising inquisitively. “I thought this was like kid torture cereal. You know, like Fruit Loops without the fruity flavor. Or Cocoa Puffs without the chocolate.”

“Some people really enjoy it,” Luisa said with a shrug as she pulled a bowl out of one of the other cabinets. She placed the bowl down on the counter as Rose continued to look through the different cereals, leaving the Kix out on the counter next to her. “It looks like it’s one of _your_ options.”

Rose shrugged. “I got so used to _my_ torture cereal that I taught myself to like it.” She shut the cabinet. “It’s better than Cheerios, anyway. Those aren’t any good unless you _cover_ them with sugar.” Then she turned to face Luisa again, stifling a yawn. She rubbed her left eye with one hand and then dragged her hand down her cheek. “Eat in here?”

“You can come sit in the front with me, unless you’re still all peopled out.” Luisa passed a mug over to Rose. “I won’t mind if you still need time to yourself.”

“No, no,” Rose waved one hand in the air with a feigned grace, “I’ll come sit with you.”

Luisa seemed to smile to herself as she took the box of Kix and a gallon of milk with her. “You just carry your coffee and get yourself some bacon before joining me, okay?” She nodded towards another cabinet. “There’s sugar and creamer in there if you want. Or, uh, if you don’t want the little packets of creamer, I have some of the better stuff in my suite.”

Rose shook her head. “No sugar, no creamer. I want my bitter black coffee, thank you very much.” She takes a swig and burns the tip of her tongue before coughing a couple of times.

“Too bitter?” Luisa asked, grinning.

“No.” Rose shook her head once. “Too _hot_.”

“Liquid creamer helps with that.”

“It also dilutes the coffee.” Rose gripped her mug between both of her hands and leaned against the counter ever so carefully. She blew across the surface of her drink a couple of times before lifting her gaze to meet Luisa’s. “You wanted to go back into the front room.”

“Yes.” Luisa nodded with a smile. “But you _can_ stay in here.”

“Mmm.” Rose shook her head. “I’ll come with you. Just….” She sighed, relaxing back against the counter. “You go on ahead and I’ll catch up.”

Rose met Luisa’s eyes briefly – this far away, they looked a warm, golden brown, even though she knew that close up they would look different, with that spike of forest green running through them – and offered her a smile, lifting her coffee mug. Luisa didn’t say anything as she backed through the doorway, propping it open so that she could carry the Kix, bowl, and milk out with her, a spoon stuck between the fingers of her right hand.

Then Rose let out a little breath, her eyes closing as she took in the scent of the food around her – mostly the coffee, which had a much stronger scent being held between her hands and near her face than it did in the coffee pot over near the rest of the food. She took another sip, being much more careful this time so as not to burn her tongue, and then snatched one of the pieces of bacon, munching on it thoughtfully as she exited the kitchen entirely.

Not that Rose didn’t want to spend time with Luisa this early in the morning – she _did_ – but that she still felt exhausted. As if all of the time she’d spent walking yesterday and her jetlag were catching up with her at the same time. It was hard to keep her eyes open, even with her stomach rumbling hungrily. She kneaded her forehead with one hand then pushed it back up through her hair as she walked down the hallway back to the entryway. Once there, she curled up on one of the couches and was almost just perfectly comfortable until her stomach grumbled again. Then she placed her mug of coffee on a side table and sat with her entire body facing forward, using the coffee table to make herself a bowl of cereal. Then she picked the bowl up and curled back up on the sofa, making sure not to spill any of the milk while she sat.

Luisa watched her curiously during all of this – Rose could _see_ her watching – and Rose paused once she was comfortable, having not started eating yet. “Is something wrong?”

“Oh, no,” Luisa said, holding her own mug of coffee between her hands. “Mia just does the same thing. Only with a more _unhappy to be alive_ look.” She laughed. “A little like the one you have now.”

“Quit comparing me to your daughter. It makes me feel like—” Rose started to speak and then let her voice fade out. She shook her head and took another bite of her cereal.

“Like what?” Luisa asked, her eyes sparkling. “Like a kid?”

“No,” Rose said. She didn’t snap, the way she might have with someone else when she was this bone weary. Instead, the word slipped through just as tired as she felt. “Not at all.” She took another bite of her cereal.

“Then what?”

Rose leaned forward and placed the bowl on the coffee table before looking up to very carefully meet Luisa’s eyes. She wasn’t sure how to put words to it. Emotions and explaining them had never been her strong suit. Instead, she reached across the table just enough so that she could just barely touch Luisa’s fingers with the tips of her own again. It was the easiest way for her to explain, and when Luisa moved one hand just enough to give Rose’s fingers a gentle tap, she knew that the hotel owner understood what she wasn’t sure how or even able to explain with words.

Then Luisa removed her fingers from where their tips grazed Rose’s. “Finish your cereal.”

“You don’t have to mom me.”

“I know.” Luisa leaned back into her sofa with a smug little smile. “It’s just a natural thing at this point. Child is asleep? Mom someone else.” Then she picked up the book she had been reading and gave another nod with her little smile. “Eat.”

Rose nodded and continued to eat her cereal. When she finished the first bowl, she poured herself another with only a little less milk. By now, her entire mug of coffee was gone, and she was beginning to wish she’d brought the entire pot with her – or even a second mug. She left Luisa behind and refilled her mug before returning and starting in on her second bowl. Then she nodded toward the boxes surrounding Luisa. “What are those for?”

“Ornaments.” Luisa didn’t place a finger in her book, instead closing it entirely and laying it to one side. “Mia’d kill us both if we started without her, but I thought it would be a good idea to get all of the boxes out before she woke up.”

“Are they organized?” Rose asked, looking at the multiple different boxes. “Or do you just throw them all in until the next year?”

Luisa winced. “People _organize_ them?”

Rose smiled in that way she did when she wanted to laugh but wasn’t quite amused enough to do so. “My mom used to. All of the balls in one box. Garland and beads in another – and those were always horrible to untangle, no matter how much she tried to keep them straight.” And here she _did_ laugh, as though at her own little joke. “Childhood ornaments and keepsakes were in a smaller box. And then, of course….” Her voice faded away. She didn’t want to bring them up again, but she kept finding that she did. It was unfortunate. She shook her head and put her now empty bowl down to one side. “Here, let me help you. We can start getting things unpacked and then Mia doesn’t have to deal with untangling things.”

Luisa’s eyes widened. “Like the lights.”

“Oh, fuck, lights are _always_ tangled.” Rose moved to sit cross-legged on the floor and slipped a finger beneath the tape holding the flaps of one box closed and then slowly peeled them back to open it. “Tell me you at least roped them before putting them in a box.”

“I _what now_?” When Rose looked up, Luisa’s expression was a mixture of shock and pain. “It’s not Christmas if you aren’t cursing at the lights?” she offered weakly.

“And you’re okay with Mia hearing that?”

“Okay with me hearing what?”

Rose looked past Luisa to where the little girl was standing in pajama pants. They were too long, so the ends were rolled up just enough that she couldn’t slip on them. Mia rubbed a hand across her eyes and sniffled once. Then her eyes appeared to almost brighten as she noticed the smell of bacon and biscuits. She didn’t even wait for them to answer the question before running off to the kitchen.

Luisa sat down in front of one of the boxes. “Don’t worry about the ornaments. Just find the lights. They have to go on first.”

“And you didn’t think about this before now?”

Luisa’s face blanched. “ _No._ ”

It was then that Rose opened her box and saw the assorted ornaments all jostled together. Even _they_ were already tangled, just from their hangers. She let out a low whistle, pushing one hand through her curls. “ _Fuck._ ”

“Not right now, dear.”

Rose could feel her eyes widen as she looked up from the boxes she’d just opened, but she couldn’t meet Luisa’s eyes. The other woman seemed to not even realize she’d said it at all, not stopping in what she was doing. Rose couldn’t help but grin as she pushed her box of ornaments away and started opening one of the other boxes.

It took a few moments before Luisa seemed to notice, to realize, and her head popped up, her eyes so wide that the whites of her eyes were bright against her skin. “I’m so sorry, I did _not_ mean—”

“Yes, you did.” This time, _Rose_ didn’t look up from her box, but she could feel the smile crossing her lips without even trying. “I know the clothes you chose for me. Don’t _lie_ , Luisa. It’s not very attractive.”

“You think I’m attractive?”

“I think this is a conversation we shouldn’t be having with little ears wandering around.” _Now_ she looked up, meeting Luisa’s eyes with her tongue stuck out just between her teeth. “You’re a _mom_. You should know better. She’ll come in at just the wrong moment and start parroting whatever it is we’re saying.”

“She’s only seven,” Luisa said, focusing on the box in front of her again, nail getting stuck on one of the pieces of tape. “She doesn’t understand—” She shook her head and pressed her lips together. “You’re right. Not in front of the kid. _Who is currently in the kitchen eating._ ”

It was then that the little pounding feet came back, and Mia appeared with a plate full of bacon and biscuits and sausage with a big glass in one hand. She let out a deep breath – _whew!_ – and curled up onto the couch just next to where Rose had moved to sitting on the floor. “ _You_ had the milk. I _hoped_ you had the milk because there was a ton of milk yesterday and we couldn’t have gone through the entire thing before today but I wasn’t sure and I thought I’d come check and I thought maybe I saw it when you were in here but I wasn’t sure and here it is right here can you pass me the milk please?”

No breath. None. Not one in edgewise. Not until Mia was done with what she was trying to say.

Rose looked over to Luisa as the little girl rambled on, not quite paying attention to what Mia was saying – something about needing or wanting the milk she’d brought into the front room – and she passed the gallon jug over to the girl without even waiting for her to finish.

“Thanks.” Mia poured milk into the glass so full that it overflowed the slightest drip drop when the table shuddered as she dropped the gallon back onto the side table. Her eyes widened and she looked from Luisa to Rose to check and see if either of them were watching, and while Luisa quickly hid her head, Rose met Mia’s eyes, glanced quickly to the glass, and then raised one eyebrow as she looked back. Mia tugged on her lower lip and then quickly sucked some of the milk from the glass without picking it up from the table until it was low enough that it was no longer so close to overflowing. Then she greedily began eating, chomping on her bacon and grinning as she stared at the woman cross-legged on the floor in front of her.

Rose opened her next box and _barely_ stopped herself before making an exclamation that would likely have been repeated by the little girl sitting behind her if she’d overheard it. She punched Luisa’s arm, and the hotel owner swatted at her before starting on another box. “Stop, stop,” Rose said, nudging her again. “I’ve found the lights.”

If they could even still be _called_ that, as tangled as they were. They pushed the other boxes out of the way, and Rose upended the box of lights so that they all fell onto the floor. “Can you even see one of the ends?” she asked, trying to pick apart cables to find one. “Do you even _have_ an end?”

“I left them all plugged together, so there should be—”

“ _All plugged together?_ ” Rose groaned. “Okay, fine, _you_ look for one of the ends, and _I’m_ going to see if I can find a place to unplug them. We should make some headway faster that way.”

Mia giggled behind her, and Rose shook her head, pushing a hand through her red curls again. “I can see why you didn’t want to start this after we got back.”

“That was because _you_ were _exhausted_.”

“I’m _still_ exhausted,” Rose murmured, “and getting more exhausted by the minute just looking at this mess.” She turned to Luisa. “You didn’t need me to help you decorate.”

“Yes, we did!” Mia said between bites of her breakfast. She pushed on Rose’s back with her bare feet. “It wouldn’t be any fun without you!”

Rose leaned her head back far enough to look at Mia. “What did you do when I wasn’t here?”

“Be bored.”

“Uh-huh. Be bored. Got it.” Rose nodded. “Is that what you’ll do when I leave? Be bored?”

Mia paused. She looked at her food and fiddled with a couple of pieces of bacon, trying to hide her face, but Rose had already seen it fall. “I don’t know,” Mia finally said, her voice low. “Be bored again, I guess.”

“You can’t be bored _all_ the time,” Rose said as she looked down again, beginning to fiddle properly with the tangled cords of the Christmas tree lights. “You have friends, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Mia said with a heavy sigh, “but none of them really like me much.”

“They don’t?” Rose asked. Her eyes lifted just enough to meet Luisa’s on the other side of the bundle of lights, but Luisa’s face was….

She’d expected Luisa to look confused or sad even, but she was just rolling her eyes and giving a little shake of her head.

“I guess not.”

Even without looking back at Mia’s face, Rose could hear the pout in her tone. “What makes you think that?”

“They haven’t invited me to go anywhere or do anything with them over all of break and if they were my friends they’d invite me to go do something with them like making snowmen or having snowball fights or just sleepovers or something and they haven’t said anything like that at all. And I know, I know,” and here she looked pointedly at her mom, who she was definitely mimicking, “ _it’s Christmas break_ and _they have families visiting_ and whatever. Maybe I’d like to meet their families or their cousins or something like that. It’s not like we have anyone visiting.” Her bare feet nudged Rose’s shoulders again, and she leaned down just enough so that her head glanced over Rose’s shoulder and she could try and look Rose eye to eye. “Except for you, of course, but you’re not family.”

Rose’s head snapped up as Luisa mumbled something and just as quickly coughed, covering her mouth with one hand. Her brow furrowed as she tried to get the other woman to look back up at her. “Something caught in your throat?”

“No, no.” Luisa waved one hand. “Nothing at all. You two keep talking.”

But Mia’d stopped at this point, having gone back to her food and munching on another piece of bacon. Rose was just glad that Mia wasn’t trying to have a conversation with food in her mouth and spewing it all over her hair. She pushed a hand through her curls anyway. Without having Mia’s conversation to focus on anymore, she turned her entire attention to untangling the lights. She hadn’t gotten far while listening to the little girl, but now she felt like she could get much more done. And, looking over to Luisa’s end, she could see that she’d at least gotten a little farther than the hotel owner herself had. That was something to feel good about.

It still took what felt like _hours_ – but was really only somewhere around thirty to forty-five minutes – to get the lights untangled. After the first cord was untangled, Rose’d had Luisa start to string the lights around the tree, making sure they could plug in at the bottom before working their way up and around. As she untangled each cable, she handed them over to the hotel owner to wrap around the tree. They worked like that for a while – with Mia watching and eating and downing her large glass of milk – until the lights were all the way up, with no strand left undone. A few lights were out on the strands, but without replacement bulbs, there wasn’t anything they could do about it.

Rose wiped her hands together, and Mia and Luisa dumped out the rest of the boxes before pushing them off to one side. Then they began to separate the ornaments from the strands of garland and beads – all of which were still tangled. Luisa gave Rose a sheepish grin, and Rose waved her off. While the mother and daughter duo began to put ornaments on the tree, Rose began to untangle the garland and the beads – a task which didn’t take nearly as long as the lights had – only another fifteen to twenty minutes total – but by the time she was done, Rose felt even more worn out than she had when she came downstairs. Only an hour, maybe a little more, and she was _wiped_.

“Here,” Luisa said, finally, handing her one of the ornaments. “You should hang this one. Wherever you want.”

“I don’t really want to—” But Rose stopped as she took the ornament in her hand and pulled it closer to her. It was a little tiny wooden nutcracker, complete with a little sword held aloft and a tiny mouse with a crown sitting on his shoulder. She ran a thumb along the little wooden piece, thumb nicking along the faded red, white, and blue paint. She looked up gently. “Thank you.”

Luisa just patted Rose’s shoulder and went back to helping her daughter decorate.

It was shortly after Rose stood, while she was examining the best place to put her new little ornament, that the phone at the counter rang. Mia perked up, but before she could scamper over to it, Luisa had already begun to make her way over. “You stay here,” she said, pointing a finger in Mia’s direction. “I’ll get it.”

“Aw, Mom! I can get it!”

“I _know_ you can! But I want you to watch Rose and make sure she doesn’t hurt herself on the tree!”

“ _Hey!_ ”

Rose looked over her shoulder at the hotel owner, who was sticking her tongue out at her. Then Luisa picked up the phone and her entire expression and voice turned into that _customer service_ sort of thing. This only continued for a few seconds before it switched into something a little bit brighter. Rose couldn’t hear what she was saying, but that was okay. She turned back to the tree, trying to think of the best place to put the nutcracker. She’d just decided to hang it near the top, right next to one of the bright red lights, when Luisa placed the phone on the counter with a little clack.

“Mia, it’s for you!”

Mia looked back from behind the tree where she’d been hanging two of her ornaments. “You were talking a real long time for a phone call that was meant for me!” she said, but she scampered over to the counter and picked up the phone without a second thought. There were only a few minutes of chatter – enough time for Luisa to get back and nudge Rose’s arm to get her to watch her daughter – before Mia gave a squee of glee.

“Mom, can I?”

“Can you _what_?” Luisa sked in that tone of voice that said she very clearly already knew what Mia was asking for but still expected her daughter to be specific anyway – an annoying motherly trait if ever there was one.

“Jessica asked me over to spend the night because she’s getting a bunch of girls together and she asked me and I know it’s Christmas and you said that everyone’s visiting family or having family visiting but she’s inviting a bunch of us over and we don’t have family up I mean we have Rose up but Rose isn’t really family and I don’t know if Uncle—”

“ _Mia._ ”

“Can I go to Jessica’s house for the sleepover?”

“When is it?”

“She wants to come pick me up in a couple of hours after lunch and then she’ll bring me back tomorrow or you can come pick me up tomorrow or both I mean maybe not both you can’t really do both you kind of have to do one or the other but _can I go_?”

Luisa turned to Rose with a little grin, and Rose covered her face to hide her amused expression. “Yes, of course you can.” She gave Rose another nudge. “It just means Rose and I will have to finish with the Christmas decorations without you.”

Mia took a deep breath as though she were going to change her mind, but then she grinned. “Okay!” Then she went back to talking on the phone and within a few minutes, she’d hung up and run back to their suite to begin packing.

Rose leaned over to whisper, very carefully, “You don’t _really_ mean we’re going to finish all of the decorations, do you? I didn’t sign up for that.”

“Of course not,” Luisa said in an equally quiet hush, even though Mia was away in their suite. “We’re almost done with the tree, but after that you are free to do whatever you want.” She bit her lower lip and paused before saying, finally, “But if you want….”

“Yes?”

“You could have dinner with me later. Not anything _formal_ ,” Luisa continued, eyes widening, almost shocked with herself for having asked. “You could keep wearing your pajamas…or _anything_ really. I just thought it would be nice to sit and talk and—”

“Luisa.”

It was immediate – the way that Rose said her name automatically making the other woman pause in her rambling the same way that Luisa could easily make her daughter pause. She watched as Luisa took a deep breath, flushing, and looked up through her lashes with a sheepish smile. Rose reached over just enough to tap Luisa’s nose. “Of course I will.”

It didn’t take long after that to finish decorating the Christmas tree. Without Mia there to be particular about which ornaments she wanted to hang and where she wanted to hang them, Rose and Luisa were able to move through things just a little bit faster. Not enough to finish with everything while Mia was packing, though, and when she came out with her bright pink suitcase packed to the brim with clothes and toys and the little plush fox she slept with hanging out of the front pocket with its bright blue button eyes looking everywhere and its black-tipped paws just outside of the pocket, Mia looked over the ornaments that were left and jumped in to take the ones that were _her especial ones_ before she had to leave.

But then not another fifteen minutes passed before Mia’s friend was there to take Mia away with her. Luisa took her small, redhead daughter outside as the car honked, and Rose watched through the window as the little girl scampered – because sometimes it seemed like all Mia did was _scamper_ – to the waiting car. Rose could see Luisa standing outside with one arm crossed just under her chest and the other held up just high enough to wave a few fingers at what Rose was sure was a rapidly waving Mia as the car drove off.

Luisa stood outside for a few minutes even after the car was gone, and Rose stopped watching, instead playing with a few of the ornaments before hanging them on the tree. There weren’t many left at this point, just as there weren’t many places on the tree left to hang them, but she looked in and out among the branches to make sure there was a place for each one she touched. The balls were her specialty, making sure to hang them on the inside of the branches just by the Christmas tree lights so that they glowed and made the tree seem to have much more dimension, much more depth, than it would have otherwise.

Not that Luisa or Mia would particularly care. Not that _Rose_ cared either – just that her stepmother had trained her to decorate their tree that way when she was very small and she did it now without even thinking about it, just out of habit.

Luisa returned just as Rose was finishing up, and her normal smile seemed a bit tacked on.

“Here,” Rose said, handing Luisa the last ornament – another nutcracker, although this one was a female with brightly painted red circles on her cheeks and green eyes. “Hang this one. Wherever you want.”

“You’re sure you don’t want it?” Luisa asked in reply, holding the little nutcracker in the palm of her hand. One of her fingers traced the red carved curls framing the wooden ornament’s face. “Considering?”

“No.” Rose shook her head. “You let me hang the prince. I thought it would only be right to let you hang Clara.”

The name froze on the tip of her tongue, but not enough for her to stumble over it. There was no change in Luisa’s expression, so she was certain that the other woman didn’t even notice the change. It wasn’t a hesitation, just a lowering of tone, barely even noticeable.

“Ok,” Luisa said. She looked up at the tree with all of the dazzling ornaments, eyes searching, searching. Then, all at once, her lips broke into a bright grin, and she stepped forward, hanging the Clara nutcracker ornament just next to the prince nutcracker that she’d given Rose to hang when she’d started on the ornaments. “There,” she said. “Clara and her prince should be right next to each other, don’t you think?”

Rose gave a firm little nod. With anyone else, she might have suggested that Clara would prefer a nutcracker princess to a nutcracker prince, but she didn’t feel the need to do so here or now. She watched as Luisa stood back from the tree and placed her hands on her hips, looking over everything. After a few seconds, Rose moved over and lay her head gently on Luisa’s shoulder.

The hotel owner jumped. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

“No. Just trying to see what you see.” Rose examined the tree. “Does it look the way it normally does?”

“No,” Luisa said with a gentle shake of her head. “If anything, it looks better. No one else who visits at Christmas wants to help us decorate. Especially not with the tree.”

Rose’s eyes widened as she turned to face Luisa. “So you normally have other visitors?”

“Not really. Just the overflow from one or the other of the hotels down near the beach.” Luisa waved a hand. “Sometimes my brother comes up to check in on me and make sure I’m doing okay, but he hasn’t been staying as long as he used to, and he’s rarely here early enough to help with decorations. For that, it’s mostly just Mia and me.”

“Sounds lonely.”

“It’s not really. We’re comfortable, you know? And we don’t really need anyone else.”

“Mmhm.” Rose took a step back and curled up on the edge of the couch again, next to where her and Mia’s breakfast dishes were all cluttered together, some stacked and some not. “But you ask whoever’s here to help, don’t you?”

“In case _they’re_ lonely.”

“Mmhm.” Rose made another noncommittal noise, tapping her cheek with one long finger. After a few minutes of silence, she stood and turned to the plates and dishes left on the side table. “Do you want me to get these?”

“No, no,” Luisa said. “I’ll get them. You go upstairs and do whatever it is you want. If you’ll meet me down here for dinner? At seven?” She turned to meet Rose’s eyes and gave her an easy smile. “Unless, of course, you’ve decided to change your mind? I won’t hold it against you if you have. If it were me—”

“I haven’t changed my mind,” Rose said, leaning forward close enough to give the other woman a kiss if she so desired – but she didn’t. “And that sounds wonderful.” She paused before heading to the stairs. “But nothing too fancy, ok? You know I’d be fine with just eating more cereal.”

“It’ll be better than cereal,” Luisa said with a feigned huff of exasperation. She gathered the dishes in one hand then tapped the main counter as she passed it by. “If you want to order lunch in, the menus are here.”

“Thanks,” Rose said as Luisa walked away, and she gathered some of the menus before returning upstairs to her room.

* * *

She shouldn’t have gone back to her room. Within thirty minutes, Rose’s stomach was rumbling again, and she found herself scouring through the menus for something that would both ease her hunger and have enough left over that she could snack on it throughout the day if she needed something else to get by. Basically – _no Chinese_. It would be worse than breakfast; she’d feel full for maybe half an hour and then find herself suddenly hungry again, which would be okay if she was on her own for food, but with dinner with Luisa approaching later and no idea what the little woman was cooking (not that Luisa was _little_ , but that she was _littler than her_ ), she figured it would be better to not stuff herself extremely full of so much food that she wouldn’t be able to eat later – and that was likely how eating Chines food would end for her.

Pizza, however, sounded like a great idea.

So now Rose was back downstairs, lounging on one of the couches in the common room, waiting for her pizza to arrive. There was a pizza place unique to the town that delivered – going through the menus, she hadn’t been surprised to find that there weren’t very many fast food chains in the little town – and she’d ordered two pizzas – not because she was necessarily that hungry, but because the pizza place had an interesting variety of offerings that were vastly different from most of the places she’d been, and Rose wanted to try one of their _odd_ combinations while also sticking with something that worked well for _her_. In case she didn’t like the new one, of course. She’d thought it was best to wait for them in the common area instead of demanding they meet her at her room on the top floor, even if it was only three flights up.

Her long legs dangled over one arm of the sofa while she leaned back against the other. The hotel was warm enough that she didn’t need real pants, and she hadn’t decided yet on anything specific to wear for her later meeting with Luisa. Instead, she was still in her black-and-red plaid pajama pants and the black tank-top. Her eyes closed as she waited, and she could feel herself beginning to drift off – all too cozy – when a knock came at the front door, followed by a jingling of the overhead bell.

Rose sat up on the couch and watched as the pizza delivery woman strolled into the entryway, carrying the two pizzas in their cardboard boxes aloft on one hand. The woman turned down one of the hallways, her long brown hair swinging in its ponytail through the back of her bright red ball cap and bouncing against her back. “Luisa!” she called. “Pizza’s here!”

It was _now_ that Rose propelled herself off of the couch and ran down the hallway, bare feet maybe a little too loud on the wooden floor. “Hey,” she said as she reached the pizza delivery woman and tapped her on the shoulder. “That’s mine.”

The woman turned – her bright, shiny gold nametag read _Allison_ in stark black print – and her dark brown eyes took in Rose in her pajamas, one hand resting on her hip. “This is her normal order. Pretty sure it’s hers.” She started back down the hallway again.

“ _Wait_.” Rose grabbed the back of her red t-shirt, and the other woman stumbled back a little bit, the pizza boxes tipping unsteadily in her hand but not enough to fall. “There should be a name on the receipt. It should be _Rose_.”

“Don’t have a receipt,” Allison said with a forced grin, and she moved to hold the pizza boxes with both hands. “I know this is Luisa’s order. She does this _at least_ once a week. So if you’ll please kindly remove your hand from my shirt—” she brushed Rose’s hand with one of hers, sharp pastel pink painted nails scratching her skin, “—I can get back to doing my job.”

Rose’s teeth gritted together. “You’re not _doing_ your job if you deliver your pizza to the _wrong person_.”

“Which I’m trying not to do, so—”

“Allison?”

Luisa’s voice came soft from the end of the hallway, her head peeking out of a doorway that Rose assumed must lead to Luisa and Mia’s suite. Seeing the two women in what _must_ look like a state of _about to fight_ , Luisa stepped out and shut her door behind her. “What’re you doing here?”

The pizza delivery woman’s head whipped around so fast that her ponytail slapped Rose in the face. “Luisa,” she said, and she pushed Rose off of her with a relieved sigh, “please tell this woman that these pizzas are yours.”

“Why would I do that?” Luisa asked, her eyes narrowing. “I didn’t order anything.”

“ _Told you_ ,” Rose hissed, glaring at the other woman. “Those are _mine_.”

“But it’s _your_ order,” Allison continued, ignoring Rose and stepping closer to Luisa. She held the pizza boxes a little tighter, unsure. “It’s your order _exactly_. Particularly for when you want _me_ to—”

“I don’t want you right now,” Luisa said, her voice just as calm as it should be, but to Rose it sounded far calmer. She sighed and rubbed her forehead with one hand. “It’s Christmas, Allison. I’m busy. Please just give Rose her food.” Then she turned around and went back into her suit, shutting the door behind her.

Allison stood, staring at Luisa’s shut door for a while, until Rose tapped her just between the shoulder blades. “My food, please.”

“Yeah, yeah, of course. Right.” Allison went back and placed the pizza boxes back on the counter. “Sorry, it really _is_ Luisa’s normal order. I’m sorry for the mistake.”

Rose waited for Allison to leave because something felt _off_ about the way the other woman was lounging around, about her insistence that the food was Luisa’s, but Allison didn’t seem to move, as though _she_ were waiting for something. Finally, Rose understood. “I’m not going to tip you, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Something flashed behind Allison’s dark eyes. Her lips pressed together in a thin little line, and she stalked back off and out of the hotel without another word, the front door slamming behind her.

Rose waited until she heard the delivery car starting before she took her boxes, and then she watched through the window as the car drove away. Her teeth gritted together, jaw clenching, until the other woman was gone. She stood there for far longer than she cared to consider. But then her stomach rumbled again, and she hurried back to her room upstairs with her pizza for lunch.

_Memo to self: do **not** order pizza again._

* * *

The pizza was _crappy_.

Rose wasn’t sure whether that was actually the pizza itself or whether it had to do with her distaste for the delivery girl, but she certainly wouldn’t be recommending it to anyone else. How could Luisa eat this stuff once a week?

Needless to say, Rose was _starving_ by the time dinner rolled around. She’d picked at the pizza as much as she could, taking little bits and pieces from the toppings with the hope that it would be able to tide her over, avoiding as much of the disgusting taste as she could. It barely helped, though, only enough to stop the rumblings of her stomach during the hours between.

So it’s _entirely possible_ that Rose showed up the door she assumed led to Luisa’s suite a few minutes early, dressed in an entirely black punk outfit that was perhaps a little too _not casual_ for the time Luisa might have planned, but on seeing the light skirt the other woman was wearing, as well as the floral print blouse that exposed quite a fair bit of cleavage, and the tight belt accentuating her small waist, Rose thought that maybe she hadn’t overdressed as much as she might have thought – especially given that Luisa seemed to have taken the time to straighten her hair, wearing it down instead of pulled up in the untidy bun or ponytail Rose had seen her wearing the entire time they’d known each other so far.

“You consider this casual dress?” Rose asked, eyes wandering a little more than— Well, probably _just as much_ as Luisa had expected. She reached out, taking the delicate fabric of Luisa’s blouse between her fingertips and rubbing it. “This feels a little more…formal.”

“Look who’s talking.” Luisa’s eyes wandered just as much as Rose’s did, and Rose couldn’t help but feel a swell of self-satisfaction. “You look like a rock star.”

Rose tilted her head back, tight curls brushing along her shoulders. “I used to date one.” Her eyes flicked away briefly. “If yodeling counts as rock.”

“It doesn’t,” Luisa said with a little shake of her head. She flattened the collar of Rose’s black jacket with one thumb. “I think _you_ brought the—” Then she stopped and looked up, brows furrowed. “ _Yodeling?_ You have an ex who was known for _yodeling_?”

Rose let out a small groan and lowered her head enough that her forehead just met Luisa’s. “She was really cute. _Really_ cute.” She glanced up, looking through her lashes as she met Luisa’s eyes. “And I _like_ folk yodeling. But you didn’t hear that from me.”

“Right.” Luisa nodded, grin spreading and brightening her face. “I’ll keep your secret as long as you don’t tell Mia. I don’t want her trying to yodel her way into your heart.”

Rose’s brows lifted. “She’d try?”

“She might.” Luisa lifted her hand as though to touch Rose’s cheek then hesitated. It was only a moment, and then her hand moved to Rose’s arm instead, running down the black jacket’s soft fabric as she stepped back. “C’mon,” she said, tugging on the edge of her sleeve and pulling Rose forward. “Come inside.”

Rose let out a little huff of disappointment as Luisa led her back into her suite, uncertain what, exactly, she’d done that had caused Luisa to hesitate and step away so suddenly. In the moment, everything had felt _right_ – or at least as though it were moving in the right direction. Not that going into her apartment was the _wrong_ direction. It was _incredibly_ right. She moved her hand just enough to take Luisa’s and give her a gentle squeeze of encouragement, and when Luisa gave hers a squeeze back, she could feel herself relax. Ok. Nothing wrong. Everything still going right.

As soon as Luisa shut the door behind them, Rose could smell whatever it was Luisa had been cooking, and her mouth immediately began to water. She swallowed once. “What’s…what’s for dinner?”

“Well, I _was_ going for lasagna, but after the pizza earlier—”

“Which was _trash_ ,” Rose said without thinking. “Please don’t compare whatever you’ve cooked to that.”

A small but not happy smile flicked into place on Luisa’s face, freezing there. “I actually _like_ that trash.” Her head lowered. “If you don’t want it, I’ll take it. Mia and I will eat the rest of it. You shouldn’t let that sort of thing go to waste.”

Rose reached forward, taking Luisa’s hand again. “It’s food. You can like or dislike whatever you want. I don’t care.” She gave it another gentle squeeze. “I’m more excited for whatever it is you’ve cooked. It smells great.”

“It doesn’t matter what it smells like if you don’t like it.”

“I’ll like it,” Rose said, again without thinking. “I liked Dee’s food, didn’t I? And the hot chocolate?”

“ _Everyone_ likes Dee’s hot chocolate,” Luisa said, but the disdain in her voice sounded as though she might be returning to normal, pulling herself out of whatever headspace she’d been in with regards to her cooking. “It’s not like that’s _hard_ or _special_.”

“But it’s something we have in common, isn’t it?” Rose asked, stepping a little closer to Luisa again. She rested her head on Luisa’s shoulder, but Luisa flinched away. “Is that not okay?”

“No, it’s fine.” Luisa stepped away again, this time taking her hand from Rose’s. “I just didn’t expect it.” She shook her head. “Maybe—” But she didn’t finish the sentence, instead taking a deep breath and grinning almost all at once, as though propelling herself into a better mood. “It’s _not_ lasagna. There’s this rule about not doing pasta or anything messy on first dates, and _I know this isn’t a date_ , but I thought – you know, maybe not lasagna.”

“You can call it a date if you want,” Rose mentioned as she followed Luisa into the kitchen. “We certainly both dressed like it is.”

Luisa stopped so completely that Rose bumped into her. Then she shook her head again and took another deep breath. “It’s _not_ a date because you won’t be staying. Dates have potential and promise for future dates if they go well. You’re just my customer, and you’ll be leaving once the holidays are over. This isn’t a date.” She fiddled with the belt at her waist then continued forward. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy each other’s company.”

“Luisa—”

“ _Don’t_.” Luisa turned on one heel so that she could face Rose. “Don’t. Please.” She took Rose’s hand again, rubbing her thumb along her skin. “I know what I’m doing. You don’t have to worry.”

“I wasn’t worried.”

“Good.” Luisa pulled Rose closer to her and leaned into the kitchen. “I thought about _soup_ , too,” she continued on about the food, pretending the previous conversation hadn’t happened, “since it’s so cold outside, and soups and stews are typical winter staples, but then I thought – _who wants soup?_ ”

“I would,” Rose said, with a joking grin when Luisa turned to give her an unhappy little look – not so much a glare as a _really?_ “But I take it you didn’t make soup.”

“No,” Luisa said with another shake of her head as she turned back to the counter. “If lasagna is messy, so is soup, and where at least with lasagna you don’t have that problem with if you eat the soup wrong you make all sorts of noises that can make the other person uncomfortable— I mean, you _do_ have that problem with soup, is the thing, so I thought _not soup_.”

“Got it.” Rose gave a little nod. “Not soup. _Bad_ idea.”

“ _Very_ bad idea. And then I thought with the potential, ah….” And here Luisa’s voice dropped off and her face flushed a bright scarlet and she gave Rose’s hand a tight squeeze this time, although it was maybe less of a squeeze and more that her hand reflexively tightened on Rose’s. “I thought maybe not garlic or onions, because bad breath and bad taste, which…kind of cut my options a bit.”

“All very good thoughts.”

“And then I realized that I didn’t know what kind of food you actually liked, other than cereal and breakfast food, and even then, you only had some of the bacon and not the rest of the breakfast food and that may only have been because I _told_ you to have some and not because you actually wanted it, so breakfast was out of the question.”

“You put a lot of thought into this.”

“ _Which is a nice way of saying I overthought it, yes, thank you very much._ ” Luisa turned to face Rose again with her hands folded in front of her, dropping Rose’s hand in the movement. Her lips pressed together, and at first it appeared that she was frustrated with Rose for making the joke, then frustrated with herself for overthinking, and then there was a sigh of resignation as she tried to make herself relax. “I thought of trying some of my mother’s old recipes, but there’s always something missing and I never can get them quite right. _You_ probably wouldn’t have noticed because you wouldn’t have had them when they were _right_ , but _I_ would have and I would have ended up thinking about that instead of having good conversation—”

“We could have talked about the food. Or your mom.”

“She’s not good date talk material.” The words were out of Luisa’s mouth all of thirty seconds before her eyes widened, and she pushed forward in another, much faster ramble, eyes looking away and head leaning to one side. “ _Not_ that I think this is a date, because it’s not, _not a date_ , we’ve talked about this, and my mom’s not good conversation material _in general_ , in fact, I would like to actively avoid talking about my mom, and—”

“ _Luisa._ ” Rose reached out and cupped Luisa’s face, slowly turning it to face her again so that her eyes could meet Luisa’s warm hazel ones. “We don’t have to talk about your mom.”

Luisa nodded once, relaxing. “I know.”

“And I’m sure whatever you’ve cooked is good.”

“That might be a misplaced trust.”

“I know.” Rose could feel Luisa’s face grow warm under her hand, and instead of removing it, she brushed her thumb lightly across her skin. “But I won’t know that until we eat.”

Luisa bit her lower lip and nodded again. “There are baked potatoes,” she said, gesturing away from her. “They’re sitting there and there’s a lot of different kinds of toppings – more bacon, but no onions – and then there’s…. There’s macaroni and cheese and hamburger in the pot on the stove.” She winced as she admitted that last part. “I know that sounds childish, but it’s one of Mia’s favorites, and I’ve gotten really good at making it, and then if you _don’t_ like it, well, even if you do, I made too much, I _always_ make too much, but Mia and I will eat it all within the week, so…. It kills two birds with one stone. Or not _kill_ two birds with one stone, because I don’t like killing birds – or killing _anything_ , really – one of the locals tried to take me deer hunting my first winter here and I cried when they shot their first deer and they had to take me back.... I shouldn’t really call _them_ locals because _Mia and I_ are locals, too.” She shook her head, as though trying to right herself. “I can’t kill anything.”

“Ok,” Rose said, her hand having moved to Luisa’s shoulder as the other woman shook her head, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’m not going to make you kill anyone. I’m sure you were inconsolable.”

“I was. I can’t even make it through _Bambi_ without sobbing.”

Rose nodded. “And all of that sounds wonderful. The food does, not the inconsolable crying.” She smiled. “And I think we’ll both relax a little bit more if we sit and start eating.”

“You’re wrong,” Luisa said with a haphazard grin. “I’m not very good at relaxing anymore.” She looked up through her lashes, and when her eyes met Rose’s again, she gave a gentle sigh, shoulders dropping, as though she were trying to force herself to be a little less tense.

“Anymore?”

Luisa shook her head again. “Let’s not talk about that.” She grinned and now that it seemed as though she were trying to relax, the grin seemed to light up the room. “Let’s eat.” She reached forward, hesitated, and then turned away again. “If you really thought that pizza was crappy, I’m sure you’re hungry.”

“ _Starving_ ,” Rose corrected, and she gave Luisa’s shoulder another gentle squeeze of encouragement before walking forward. “Is it okay if I serve myself?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course it is.” Luisa pointed. “There are bowls there and plates and forks and knives and….” She let out another sigh. “I’m going to stop talking. You’re not blind.”

“No. But I like listening to you talk.” Rose looked up from where she was beginning to gather her things and gave Luisa one of her own mischievous grins. “Especially when you ramble.”

“Don’t lie to me!” Luisa exclaimed, but she grinned as she went to stand next to Rose.

As they got their food, Rose made sure to be very aware of where Luisa was standing next to her. Every now and again, she made sure to bump into her – very gently, so as not to knock her food out of her hands or to startle her – and the first time, Luisa looked up, worried. It was clear from her expression that there were immediate apologies on her lips. But then Rose met her eyes and gave her a wink, hoping that it very clearly told the other woman that she was being intentional, and Luisa paused, grinned, and gave Rose a little wink in return. Then, sometimes, it was Luisa who bumped into her, and by the time they were sitting down at Luisa’s circular table, it felt like some of the tension and awkwardness between them had passed.

They ate in silence. Luisa kept looking up to see Rose’s reactions – Rose caught her eye every now and again when she looked up, and she would give her a very gentle smile as Luisa quickly tried to look everywhere else _but_ at Rose – and Rose was too hungry to try and put forth any forced conversation. If anything, the silence felt uncomfortable, and breaking it hastily felt like it would be rushing something that didn’t need to be rushed. When they were done, they took the plates and dishes back into the kitchen, where after a quick rinse, Luisa had them leave them in the kitchen sink.

“For later,” she said, her voice soft.

Then they moved into the living room. The forest green sofas in Luisa’s suite didn’t seem as old as the ones in the hotel’s common area did, and they were much softer. Even the fabric felt much gentler than the rough caramel brown of the sofas in the foyer, and while the foyer itself felt inviting, Rose was beginning to realize that came entirely from Luisa herself. The whole room exuded a warm and familiar atmosphere. There was a little tree sitting on a table beneath one of the windows, and it was covered with lights that seemed to twinkle in a pattern. The coffee table was covered with paints and coloring books, and beneath those, the wood itself seemed to be decorated with different designs and words that had been painted on.

“Where did you get this?” Rose asked as Luisa curled up next to her – close, but not _too_ close.

Luisa chuckled. “When I was in med. school, we were all stressed all the time. We would have study parties in my apartment – sometimes they were more _party_ than they were _study_ ,” and here she gave another, half-hearted laugh, “and I had this coffee table, and I thought, you know, coloring books help people feel less stressed, so painting should, too. So I got a set of cheap paints and paintbrushes and started letting my friends paint all over it, whatever they wanted.” She grinned. “There’s some pretty risqué stuff on there, if you know where to look.”

“I take it Mia hasn’t looked.”

“Oh, she has. She just doesn’t understand it. Med. student humor, you know?”

Rose ran a finger along one of the paintings. “You were in med. school?”

“Mmhm.” Luisa leaned back on the couch and sighed. “I was halfway through my residency when Carla died.”

“Your wife.”

“Yes.” Luisa smiled, but it was a forlorn, lost sort of look more than anything particularly happy. “I…crashed pretty hard, and when I was better, I thought it would be good for Mia and I to get away from it all. She was three years old then, and I decided…around Christmas, actually, that a fresh start would be good for us. We moved up here to Longbourne that next summer, and we’ve been here ever since.”

“That sounds like a pretty big jump,” Rose said as she settled back into the couch, “going from med. school to owning an inn in a small town.” She began to run her hands through Luisa’s hair without even thinking about it.

Luisa hesitated a moment, not moving, before she continued to speak. “My family has been in the hotel business for as long as I can remember,” she said, voice soft when she finally continued. “My father runs an entire chain, and my brother, in an attempt to prove he was worth something, started a hotel of his own. It’s owned by my father now, but my brother still runs it.” Her lips pressed together. “My dad never seemed disappointed in me. He was proud of me, proud that I was so smart. He used to talk about me all the time, about my accomplishments in med. school. When I crashed, running a hotel seemed like it would be…a good way to keep a job _and_ learn how to reintegrate myself in society. And it’s been nice,” she finished, looking down at her hands where they lay in her lap.

“You do what you have to do to make sure you survive,” Rose said. Her voice was tighter than she intended, but she couldn’t stop herself. “My stepmother probably knows your father. She used to run hotels, too, but now she’s in the business of making sure they’re run correctly – all of the legalese and investigations.” The fingers of her free hand tapped along her leg. “I need to remember to call her to look into the _overbooking_ situation at the Marbella – the hotels in Miami shouldn’t be treating their customers that way, and they shouldn’t rely on you to take care of the customers when they kick them out.”

Luisa was oddly silent. “Do you wish you’d stayed down there?” she asked, finally, her voice still and soft.

Rose turned to her and noticed that Luisa was still looking down into her lap, fiddling with her fingers. She brushed Luisa’s hair back out of her eyes. “No.”

But Luisa still didn’t look up. “Are you sure?” She continued to fiddle with her fingers. “Or are you just saying that because _I_ asked?”

“Luisa.” Rose lifted the other woman’s head again very gently. “I’m glad to be here. I can be happy with the final result even if I’m not particularly happy with the situation that led to it.”

Instead of nodding, Luisa turned so that she was just against Rose’s shoulder. She glanced to Rose’s eyes then quickly back down. “And what,” she started, “is the final result?”

“I don’t know.” Rose watched the other woman carefully. “I guess that all depends on how our date goes.” She smiled, and then her head tilted ever so slightly to one side. “Our _not_ date,” she corrected.

“And how do you want that to go?”

Luisa bit her lower lip as she looked up again, then her tongue swiped across her lip, gaze drifting to Rose’s lips before forcibly moving back to her eyes. The fingers in her lap were finally still, almost as though they were waiting for something. But they held themselves together so tight that her knuckles were a bright white.

Instead of speaking an answer, Rose moved to break the distance between them, leaning down until—

_Ding!_

Rose froze, her lips inches away from Luisa’s, and the hotel owner’s eyes shifted away from her, just over her shoulder. Her eyes glanced down to Luisa’s lips and back up. “You don’t have to answer that.”

“You’re right,” Luisa whispered, her breathing slow as her gaze returned to meet Rose’s eyes. “It’s…it’s probably not important.”

“Right. It’s not.” Rose brushed one hand through Luisa’s hair, and Luisa closed her eyes, leaning into her hand. “You can stay right here with me.”

There was another tingle of the bell over the door, and Luisa’s eyes snapped open again. “I should go see who that is. It could be another customer, and they might need a place to stay.”

“ _Or_ that could just be the sound of them leaving. The bell does that every time the door is opened, right? It could just be—”

There was a much louder _ding_.

“That’s the bell on the counter,” Luisa said, her voice a little softer. “I need to see who that is. They must need something.” She leaned back, away from Rose, and let out a little breath. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Rose traced her fingers along Luisa’s cheek. “I can wait. You go check.” Her eyes shifted away from Luisa to one of the hallways in her suite, then ran one finger down Luisa’s arm. “Maybe I can find clothes for _you_ to wear.”

Luisa nodded once with a low hum of a sound then shook her head rapidly, eyes closed. “Stay here, please.” She placed a hand on Rose’s arm. “Maybe I can convince whoever it is to leave, or I can get them set up quickly, or—”

“Take your time,” Rose said with a smile. “I’ll still be here.”

There was another ding of the bell on the front counter, followed by another, much more rapid one.

“You should go.” Rose nodded towards the door to the suite. “Whoever it is sounds like they’re getting impatient.”

“Customers always are.”

Rose watched as Luisa moved from the sofa and out the door, shutting it softly behind her, and let out an easy breath of air. Hopefully whoever the customer was didn’t end up being as horrible as _she_ had been when _she_ first arrived. Her hands ran down the thighs of her black jeans, and then she stretched out on the couch with a little yawn, curling up on one side.

“Stay here,” she murmured to herself. She could do that.

Probably.

* * *

Luisa ran her hands down her skirt as she walked, trying to smooth the winkles out, and then brushed her hands through her hair, hoping that Rose hadn’t mussed it up with her brushing. She couldn’t feel any snags or tangles. By the time she made it to the end of the hallway, she’d moved her hands in front of her, trying not to fidget with her appearance, and had a bright smile on her face. It was hard not to smile when she thought about returning to Rose – after however long it took to finish with whoever it was waiting on her at the counter.

When she saw who it was, her smile froze.

“Allison,” Luisa said, her voice tight as she saw the girl hunched over the front counter. “What are you doing here?”

The brunette turned to face Luisa as soon as she heard her voice, and she gave an easy smile. “I came to apologize,” she said, and her head tilted to one side, the edge of her ponytail brushing along her shoulders. “For earlier. I should have checked the receipt.”

“You don’t need to apologize to me.” Luisa stayed where she was, not wanting to get any closer to the girl. “You should be apologizing to Rose.”

“The redhead?” Allison groaned. “She’s kind of an ass. And she didn’t tip! You should _always_ tip, even _if_ your pizza girl’s head’s not screwed on completely straight!” Even in her annoyance, her lips curved into a grin at her own joke, and while at most times Luisa might enjoy her joke, she didn’t right now.

“ _I_ don’t always tip,” she reminded her.

“Yeah, but you do _other things_.” Allison’s eyes slowly traced Luisa’s body – down and then back up – and her grin spread. “You free? I don’t see Mia around anywhere. Does she miss me?”

Luisa didn’t have the heart to tell her that Mia didn’t really care that Allison hadn’t been around. “Mia’s off with one of her friends for a sleepover,” she said instead, and then she stopped herself before continuing, hating herself for admitting it.

“We could have a sleepover of our own, then.” Allison stepped forward, pleasant as she usually was around Luisa. Her hands moved to Luisa’s waist, brushing across her belt. “You’re not busy, are you?” She leaned forward and began to kiss Luisa’s neck.

“I’m a little,” Luisa swallowed, “ _busy_ right now.” Her hands began to fidget together to keep her from moving them anywhere else. She didn’t normally mind Allison’s presence – even if _Mia_ didn’t particularly care for her, she was a welcome addition when Luisa grew lonely or when she wanted a third person around or even when she just needed someone to watch her daughter while she took some time for herself. But right now—

Luisa took Allison’s hands in her own and stepped back. “If that was what you wanted, why didn’t you knock? Why did you ring the bell?”

Allison shook her head. “I didn’t want to bother you if you were—”

“And ringing the bell like an impatient customer doesn’t bother me?” Luisa pressed her lips together and gave Allison’s hands a squeeze. “I told you earlier that I don’t want you right now.”

“I know, I just thought—” Allison looked down at their hands. “I thought that was for that bitch—”

“Her name is _Rose_ —”

“—and not for me.” Allison looked up and took a sharp breath. “You’re not on a date with _her,_ are you?” she whispered, and a flicker of hurt passed through her eyes.

“No,” Luisa said immediately, thanking herself for constantly telling bother herself _and Rose_ that whatever she was doing with the other woman was specifically _not_ a date so that she couldn’t be lying to the girl in front of her – who she _wasn’t really_ seeing but who she also often used for booty calls when she needed them (or who sometimes used her for them as well – when they were both _free_ , of course). “Not a date.” She ran her hands along the sides of her skirt. “I just wanted to dress up.”

“You wanted a little you time while Mia was gone,” Allison said, her eyes widening in understanding. “And I’ve ruined that, haven’t I?”

“No, no. You haven’t ruined anything. I just didn’t….” Luisa glanced up to the ceiling, trying to find words for what she wanted to say and coming up empty. She just gave Allison one of her awkward smiles and stepped forward, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “Maybe after New Year’s, okay? The hotel will be empty. It’ll just be us. Mia might be having a sleepover with someone else.”

“Mmmmm, sounds _nice_.” Allison turned her head just enough to give Luisa a gentle kiss, one that Luisa allowed to linger until she broke it off. “I’ll plan on that, then. After New Year’s.”

“After New Year’s,” Luisa echoed with a little nod. “But not until then. Not while I have a customer. I wouldn’t want—”

“No, no, I get that.” Allison grinned. “We can get pretty loud. She probably wouldn’t like that.” She sighed. “But I would love to give her some of her own medicine. She’s so _uptight_.”

Luisa shook her head. “You didn’t even meet her.”

“And you’re defending her.” But Allison waved a hand off. “She could be anywhere. Can’t badmouth a customer where they can hear you, I get it.” She smiled. “I’ll see you later.”

Luisa watched as Allison turned away with a grin and left through the front doors. Then she let out a deeply held sigh just as soon as the girl was gone, lowering her head and running her fingers over her forehead. Of all the times for Allison to show up unexpected, this was _not_ the best. Not the worst, either, because it could have gone so much more poorly. As it was, at least Allison was gone, and Rose was—

—still in her suite. On her couch. _Waiting for her._

Luisa couldn’t help but bite her lower lip again, letting herself feel the sudden flush that ran under her skin. She grinned and took a deep breath, holding onto the counter and giving it a squeeze to ground herself, to remind herself that this was _actually_ _happening_ – or at least appeared to be – before letting an all-too-excited grin curve her lips. Everything in her wanted to race back to her suite, feet pounding on the floor like Mia’s did on Christmas morning when she knew that there were presents full of almost everything she wanted waiting for her if she just made it down quickly enough to unwrap them.

Even if they hadn’t kissed _yet_ , they’d been so close, and with no further interruptions? Maybe she was imagining things, but—

Luisa took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. She didn’t want _Rose_ to realize how excited she was. She wanted to maintain a cool, composed exterior, just like the other woman’s. Being too excited could be a huge turn-off, and she _really_ didn’t want to do that. So she made sure to take her time returning to her room, making sure to calm down even if it was only a little bit, even though her heart still flipped in her chest when she shut the door behind her, flipped again as she made her way on bare feet back to the sofa. Even with Allison, even with the others she’d been sent before, she hadn’t felt nearly this excited, and she wasn’t sure exactly why she was now, why somehow Rose made her feel more alive than any of the others – Carla, of course, excepted.

But when she returned to the sofa and saw Rose lying there, Luisa could feel her heart fairly stop in her chest.

The other woman was curled up on her side, head resting on the pillow, red hair falling across her face. Her bright blue eyes were closed, and her expression was relaxed, her breathing slow.

“Rose?”

At the sound of her name, the other woman’s face scrunched up, but instead of opening her eyes, Rose turned away from her and buried her face in the other side of the sofa. She shivered once and then didn’t move again.

Luisa let out a huff of a laugh because of course – _of course_ – it would end this way. Right. She shouldn’t…she _shouldn’t_. Her first instinct was to run her fingers along Rose’s arm, not to wake her, but just out of instinct. Instead, she very quietly pulled a few blankets from one of her cupboards and wrapped them around Rose’s sleeping form. Rose immediately grabbed the first blanket and pulled it tightly around her, shivering again.

When Rose finally seemed to relax again, Luisa bent down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Rose’s eyelids flickered, and for a moment, Luisa thought she might wake. But when she didn’t, Luisa left her.

Maybe this was better.

Yeah, she could convince herself of that. This was better. It had to be.

But that didn’t stop the pit of disappointment curling about her chest as easily as Rose had curled up on her sofa. She just didn’t know what to do with it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize ahead of time. This past week was a mixture of not great on the writing sphere, I feel REALLY burnt out on this fic, and this chapter needed a rewrite of the beginning - which will hopefully be posted in Shenanigans later this week - and another shorter part cut out - which may be edited into a blooper reel depending on if I do that or not.
> 
> Mostly I'm running really behind, so the second write for this chapter didn't get done.
> 
> My apologies if this feels rough compared to the earlier chapters. I'm so sorry.

It was still dark when Luisa’s eyes fluttered open to see Rose standing next to her bed. Her eyes widened at the sight of the redhead, just standing there, appearing to be watching her. She sat up in bed, pulling her sheets up in an attempt to cover herself – not because there was anything _to_ cover at the moment, but because there was something inherently off-putting about waking to see someone staring blankly at her.

“Rose?” she mumbled, her voice just as bleary as her eyes. “What are you doing here?”

But the redhead didn’t say anything, just stood there, barely even blinking.

“Rose?”

The longer the other woman stood there unmoving, the more Luisa’s mood changed. At first, she grew more uncomfortable, and then, after a certain point, the discomfort faded and the only thing that was left was a confused curiosity. She stood up, bunching her maroon sweatshirt’s sleeves up past her elbows, legs exposed beneath light pink booty shorts, and crossed to the other side of the bed where Rose was standing. She reached up and hesitated, briefly, before skimming her fingers along Rose’s forehead, brushing a strand of curls back out of her face. Her eyes searched the blue ones in front of her and found them to be cloudy, hollow, unfocused.

It was only then that she smiled.

“C’mon.”

Luisa gently took Rose’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze before tugging her forward. Rose tumbled a bit then followed her. In seconds, Luisa had her sitting on the edge of the bed and then tucked in on the side nearest her. Rose’s brows seemed to furrow as Luisa got back in on her side of the bed, and then Luisa curled up next to her, pulling her arms around her, and held them there, cinched at her waist.

“ _You_ are going to stay right here with _me_ , okay?” Luisa could feel Rose nuzzle her assent into the back of her neck as she nodded, and she smiled. “No more sleepwalking.”

Rose mumbled something against Luisa’s hair, and she thought she could make out a lower echo of her words The arms about her waist tightened just the littlest bit. Then Rose seemed to give a sigh of relief before relaxing.

“No more sleepwalking.”

* * *

Rose snapped awake all at once, breath catching in her throat, eyes wide as she took in a room that she didn’t remember at all and a bed in which she did _not_ remember falling asleep. She glanced out the nearby window and saw the trunks of trees standing in multiple feet high snow, which meant despite the general ambiance, she was still in the inn – just not in her room. She nearly jumped in her skin when she heard the sound of a shower turning on in a nearby room, and she took another, deeper breath to try and steady herself.

The last thing she remembered was laying down on Luisa’s couch and making herself comfortable while she waited for the hotel owner to return from taking care of…whoever it was she’d been taking care of. She’d been gone so long, Rose had assumed it was a customer, and then she’d—

She’d must have fallen asleep.

But then _why_ was she in bed? Had Luisa moved her? The hotel owner didn’t seem strong enough for something like that. She brushed a hand through her red curls as she leaned forward, trying to remember. Maybe something had happened.

No.

That couldn’t be the case.

If something had happened, she wouldn’t still be in her clothes. So that was out of the question.

Rose was still bent forward when the shower shut off, sheets tangled around her waist, and she only looked up when she heard the soft sounds of bare feet on the floor next to her and felt the pressing of the mattress beside her. Her eyes widened at the sight of the hotel owner sitting beside her in nothing more than a towel, another one in her hands and lightly pressing at her long brown hair.

“You’re finally awake.” Luisa smiled as she leaned up against the headboard. “At least, it looks like you’re awake.”

“I’m awake,” Rose said, letting out a breath as she tried to focus on Luisa’s eyes and not on the cleavage she had exposed or the legs stretched out in front of her. Her fingers dug into the sheets so as not to reach over to brush along the other woman’s skin. “How did I get here?”

“Don’t you remember?” Luisa asked, her eyes widening and a hurt expression brushing across her face. She bit her lower lip and glanced down at the towel covering her. Then she took a deep breath and pulled the towel up a little higher, burrowing her legs under the sheets. “You don’t…. Was I that _bad_?”

“No, no,” Rose said, shaking her head, brow furrowing, “you weren’t bad. You were wonderful.” She looked up, meeting Luisa’s eyes, and reached over, brushing her fingers along the curve of Luisa’s face, tracing the slope of her cheek, the edge of her jaw. “Better than wonderful.” Her thumb ran down her lips, stopping on her jaw. “In fact,” she leaned forward—

\--only to be stopped as Luisa pressed a finger against her lips. “We didn’t do anything.”

Rose kissed the tip of Luisa’s finger, and Luisa quickly drew it away. “Don’t _do_ that.”

“You’re the one who put your finger on my lips.”

“You did it first.”

“You did it _second_. To _me_.” Rose smiled. “And it’s your own fault for not kissing my thumb.”

“Mmhm.” Luisa let the towel she was using on her hair drop to the floor next to her. “Have you figured out how you ended up in here yet?”

Rose shook her head. “Tell me.”

“Sleepwalking.”

Rose let out a groan and shook her head, pushing both hands through her red hair. “I thought I was _done_ with that.”

Luisa’s eyes widened. “You do this often?”

“When I was a kid,” Rose said, leaning back against the headboard, head tilted up to stare at the ceiling. She let out a sigh. “I used to sleepwalk all the time. I’d fall asleep in my bed and wake up in my mother’s.” She glanced over to Luisa. “She’d find me staring at her and pull me into bed and that’d be it. Most of the time Dad was out drinking, so it didn’t matter. He’d sleep on the couch.”

“Your dad used to drink?”

Rose sighed and nodded. “Drank himself to death. But let’s not talk about that.” She settled against the pillows and turned to Luisa. “Who was that? When we were on the couch and you got up to leave? Was it a customer?”

But something told her that it couldn’t be a customer. If it was, Luisa would be gone by now, starting on breakfast like any good hotel owner would do.

This time, Luisa let out a deep sigh, and she pulled away from Rose, pulling her long hair through her fingers. “Allison came by,” she said, finally.

“The pizza girl?”

“She wanted to apologize,” Luisa continued without answering Rose’s question.

Rose sat up a little straighter. “She’s still not getting a tip.”

“She was apologizing to _me_ ,” Luisa said with a very pointed look in Rose’s direction. Then she looked away, letting out a huge sigh. “It’s not that important. She shouldn’t have been here at all. I didn’t—”

“Is she here often?” Rose asked, reaching over and placing a hand on one of Luisa’s. “Other than your…what did she say it was? Weekly cravings for that _horrible_ pizza?” She tried to grin to help Luisa feel a little bit more relaxed, but the other woman wouldn’t look at her enough to see her expression.

“It’s not that bad,” Luisa said, rolling her eyes. “And yes, weekly. Mia likes it. We celebrate getting through the week. Sometimes with a movie. Sometimes Allison stays.”

Then there was silence.

“Ah,” Rose said, nodding once. She moved her hand away from Luisa’s, scooting a little to the other side of the bed. “You’re together.”

“ _No._ ” The answer was immediate, and Luisa turned to face Rose just as quickly, head whipping around towards her, and she reached out again to take Rose’s hand, running her thumb along her skin. “No. We’re not. You didn’t—”

“—doesn’t matter,” Rose said, her voice soft, and she offered Luisa a small smile and a shrug. “It’s Christmas season. That’s really all I’m good for.”

Luisa squeezed Rose’s hand then held tight to it. “Allison and I aren’t together. I just live in a very small town, and she’s the only one who….” Her voice faded, dropped off entirely, and she looked down. Then she took both of Rose’s hands in her own. “Allison is in love with the idea of me. She thinks she can step in and save the lonely widow woman and her kid by pretending to love her enough.” She leaned back against her headboard a little too hard, making a _thunk_ ing noise. “She really needs to get out of Longbourne.”

“I can arrange for that.”

Luisa looked up at Rose, who was grinning up at her. “That’s not very nice, Rose.”

“Who said I was nice?” Rose’s grin grew as Luisa stuck her tongue out at her. “If she needs to leave, she needs to leave. I know some people—”

“ _Rose._ ”

“—who could offer her jobs. _Good_ jobs.” Her eyes wandered back over to the window. “A certain yodeling star might like the help.”

“You want to set her up with your ex.”

“ _No_ , I want _you_ to not have to deal with her.” Rose poked Luisa’s arm. “Even if she _is_ nice to have around.”

Luisa shrugged and shook her head. “I don’t want you stepping in. It’s not like you – _or anyone else_ – is going to be here.” She straightened the sheets around her. “It’s a small town. We do what we need to do.”

“You hate it here.”

“I _love_ it here,” Luisa said, and her voice was so earnest as she spoke, her eyes so bright as she met Rose’s again, that it was impossible to think that she believed otherwise. “I just sometimes wish that here was a little bit…better.”

“In terms of cute girls?”

“In terms of cute girls interested in other cute girls.” Luisa’s lips contorted into a pout. “You _do_ think I’m cute, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Rose said with a solemn nod. “Very cute. So cute, in fact, that I can’t resist—” And she leaned up, brushed her fingers across Luisa’s jaws again, and leaned forward—

Luisa stopped her again. “Mia’s friend called right before you woke up. She’s going to be back any minute.” She got out of bed and pushed Rose to the other side. “You need to get ready, if you want to eat something before she gets back. And I don’t want her to know that you stayed with me.”

“Right,” Rose said, sliding off of the bed. “Got it.” She sighed and ran a hand through her hair again. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”

“I know.” Luisa let a sigh and shook her head. “I wish Allison hadn’t shown up.”

“Maybe it was a good idea, you know?” Rose brushed the wrinkles from her clothes. “It’s not like I’m staying or anything. This way, I’m not screwing up your life.”

“You wouldn’t be screwing up my life.” Luisa reached across and took Rose’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. Then she smiled. “Longbourne’s annual Christmas Ball is tomorrow. Come with me.”

“Come with you?” Rose echoed, eyes lighting up. “You sure that’s such a good idea?”

Luisa shrugged. “Let me make this up to you.”

Rose grinned, and she met Luisa’s eyes long enough to whisper, “Then it’s a date.”

* * *

“So did you have fun over at Samantha’s house?” Luisa asked as she and Mia sat in their suite, next to each other at the dining room table. She reached over to brush some of the loose curls out of Mia’s face. “What all did you do?”

“Watched a movie,” Mia said as she took a bite of her macaroni and cheese and hamburger. “It wasn’t even that good.”

“Don’t speak with your mouth full.”

Mia swallowed and looked up with furrowed brows. “But you asked me while I was eating.”

“So wait until after you swallow.” Luisa leaned forward and kissed her daughter’s freckled forehead.

“ _Mama, not while I’m eating!_ ” Mia pouted and scowled and tried to bat Luisa away with one hand.

“Right, right, no kisses while you’re eating.” Luisa settled back in her wooden chair and began to trace circles on top of the table. “Allison dropped by while you were gone.”

Mia stopped stuffing her face just long enough to look up with a displeased look. “I don’t like her.”

“I know you don’t.”

“She’s mean, and she eats all of my pizza.”

“She _does_ do that,” Luisa said with a solemn nod. “You know, _Rose_ doesn’t like your pizza.”

Mia looked up with a shocked expression. “She doesn’t?”

“No.”

Mia shuffled in her seat a little bit, looking down at her bowl of macaroni and cheese and hamburger and tapping it with her spoon. “Does that mean there are leftovers?”

“Leftovers?” Luisa asked, momentarily confused.

“Of the pizza.”

“Oh.” Luisa’s eyes widened. “You know, I don’t know. She may have thrown it all away.”

“And you _let her_?” Mia exclaimed. She reached over and gave Luisa a good thwack on her arm. “Mama, you’re supposed to save those for me!”

“Well, I wasn’t eating _with_ her,” Luisa said, rubbing her arm where Mia hit her as though she’d actually been hurt. She pouted. “Maybe you and I will just have to order some of our own.”

“But only if there’s no Allison.”

“Only if there’s no Allison, got it.”

But Luisa knew better than to make that promise. Allison was the regular pizza delivery person, and with things as they were, she couldn’t just request that she not show up. That would look weird – not just to Allison, who would likely come over anyway to find out what was going on, but also to the other people in the little town, who would hear about it by proxy from whispers and rumors and—

It really wasn’t worth the effort.

“What movie did you watch?”

Mia’s brow furrowed. “I don’t remember.” She stared into her bowl of macaroni and cheese and hamburger as though that would tell her what it was then looked up. “Did Rose like her?”

“Did Rose like who?”

“Allison.” Mia blinked a couple of times. “She got pizza and Allison always comes over when we get pizza. Did she like her?” Her eyes widened suddenly. “Did _Allison_ like _her_?”

Luisa sat back in her wooden chair, arms crossing. “No.”

“Allison didn’t like her?”

“And she didn’t like Allison.”

Maybe Luisa shouldn’t really be having this conversation with her daughter. It was one thing to know that the two had a bad start, but what did it matter in the grand scheme of things? All it did was give Mia more fuel to dislike Allison. It wasn’t like Rose was staying. The only time she _might_ have to juggle that fiasco would be tomorrow at the Christmas Ball, and there was a separate area for the children like Mia. (This _was_ done in a round – different parents or volunteers chosen per year so that they could have the opportunity to go to the ball themselves. It wasn’t Luisa’s year this year – and likely wouldn’t be again for a while – she’d covered the kids last year, and it had been overwhelming.)

Regardless, Mia would have no reason to see the two of them interacting.

But Luisa felt _wrong_ lying to her child over something as simple as whether or not the two women liked each other. The feeling sat in the pit of her chest like a stone sinking in Longbourne’s lake, only without any of the nice glow from the jellyfish or algae. She took a deep breath, fingers playing with a necklace she’d chosen to wear earlier that day, and smiled. “Was it a Christmas movie?”

“No.” Mia pushed herself off of the chair, leaving her half-eaten bowl of food on the table.

“Where are you going? You haven’t even finished!”

“Will when I get back.”

“From where?”

Mia took a deep breath. “Rose didn’t like the pizza I like and throwing it away is a waste of food and _you_ always say that we shouldn’t waste food so I’m going to go get the leftovers because maybe she kept it.” She looked up and met Luisa’s eyes. “She’s got to know we eat that all the time because she told you and she met Allison and _I’d’ve_ told her so she knows.”

Luisa listened to what her daughter had to say, the whole carefully thought out ramble, and she smiled a fond little smile. She ran one hand through Mia’s red curls, much to her displeasure, and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Those are all very good reasons. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll go with you.”

* * *

There were a _lot_ of really good things about Longbourne and about her recent time spent with its owner – some of which it wouldn’t be appropriate to necessarily _name_ , even if Rose did review them while they were away – but one of them was that Luisa had sent a lot of food back upstairs with her – extra baked potatoes, a large bowl of the macaroni and cheese and hamburgers, and little plastic Tupperware bins of the toppings she’d like for the potatoes. This allowed her to satisfy her cravings without having to call out to the restaurants around town (particularly the pizza place, which she’d already decided not to mess with, on account of not wanting to deal with that pizza delivery woman again), and instead of calling out or having to go downstairs, she could stay in her hotel room with her food and not deal with anyone.

Even if anyone was only Luisa and her daughter.

Still, being alone after so much time spent with people – it was _nice_.

Rose placed her finished bowl of macaroni and cheese and hamburger in the sink after rinsing as much of it off as she could – all the little crumbs and bits – the first in what would be a small pile of dishes that she would wash shortly before sleeping later. It was an old habit. In her apartment now, she had a dishwasher, but when she was a child, they hadn’t had the money for that until Elena came along. She and her father had stood at the sink together – him washing, her on a little stool rinsing them off and drying them – while her mother slept for her early rise. It had always been a family time.

It had stopped when her mother left. Rose had been too tiny to wash and dry the dishes all by herself, and her father hadn’t cared. By the time Elena found them, the dishes had needed to be thrown out. She’d had the money to buy them new ones, ones that were much more _her_ design than her lost mother’s.

Christmas was, in some ways, the worst time of year for all of this. The holiday had been an especial favorite of her mother. Their house had always been decked out in the few decorations they had, and where some kids had Easter egg hunts, Rose had _nutcracker_ hunts, trying to find whatever the new one her father had whittled was somewhere in a house full of other ones. Then, on Christmas morning, on finding the new nutcracker, she’d presented it to her mother – her father’s gift to her – with a bouquet of flowers she’d picked from the weeds in their backyard – _her_ present to her – and then she was able to open her own presents. And she’d _always_ had presents. Sometimes there were only one or two, and she remembers one Christmas where there’d been nothing but a silver chain with a little whittled rose and fox charm – a fox with a rose tucked behind one ear that made her mother beam as much as her father. She’d worn the necklace everywhere, hiding it beneath her shirt sometimes so that the boys at school hadn’t thought her weak or vulnerable for wearing it – or so that she didn’t punch them in the face and get sent home early when they teased her for it, so that she didn’t see the way her mother’s face fell or the way her father’s shoulders hunched as he hid in their room. She’d held it in her hands and ran her fingers along it for good luck and to remember when her mother was gone.

Elena’d discarded a lot of the things of her mother’s over the years. Many of the stuffed animals Rose had been given for birthdays or Christmases, most of the photographs of her (whether in photos with Rose or her father or alone), any clothes she’d left behind. It hadn’t taken long before Elena had moved them into a whole other house entirely, one with more…amenities – a word Rose had only learned later, when she was old enough to understand what it meant – far away from the trees and riverbank that Rose had called home. She’d even had a son in an attempt to replace Rose herself.

And the nutcrackers all disappeared, save for one.

Rose moved over to the dresser where the cardboard box Mia’d brought in still lay unopened next to the plastic bag from the thrift store which now only contained the three nutcrackers she’d bought. She pulled those three out first – the Nutcracker Prince, the Mouse King, and the Sugar Plum Fairy. A smile barely made its way across her face as she placed them atop the dresser, running her thumb along the paint and wood of each before standing them upright in their set.

They were meant to be a set of four. Her mother had a similar set that her father had made one Christmas when he’d seen them in a store window. They’d _both_ seen them, and her mother had fallen in love with them instantly. But the thing about special holiday gift sets – even if you buy all of them, they’re still expensive. More so for a family that really didn’t have enough money to buy _one_ of them, let alone all four. It’d taken longer for her father to make them, and they weren’t exactly the same as this mass-produced set. His, in her mind, had always been better.

She lifted the lid of the grey cardboard box. There, inside, were the few scraps of things she’d been able to hide from Elena. A few photographs of her mother – one somewhere on a beach far before she was born, with a sunhat on top of her auburn curls, huge black sunglasses, and the biggest grin she’d ever seen. Two of the plush toys her mother had made – the first, a fuzzy fox that she’d had ever since she was a baby, all worn with muted colors from so much use; the other the last of them her mother had ever made, a black cat with one golden button eye, the other long lost from one of her games at the riverbank. The silver chained necklace with the fox with its rose. A small black book full of baking recipes in her mother’s handwriting.

Her fingers moved between them, lingering on each, before she found what she was looking for – the last of the nutcrackers, the only one she’d been able to save from Elena – Clara, the girl who had brought the Nutcracker to life. Clara was similar to the Sugar Plum Fairy, although she was intended to be a little shorter. There weren’t any sparkles. She was very plain in her blue dress made to look like corduroy with the white ribbon about her waist. There was a white rose stuck in her once bright red curls. Her cheeks had the same red circles of blush, and she seemed…happy.

Rose set her next to the other three – smaller than even those – and closed the cardboard box. Then, on second thought, she moved the set on top of the cardboard box, centering it on the dresser. She tapped Clara’s nose once and smiled.

It was then that a knock came at the door, and she fairly jumped out of her skin. She took a deep breath to steady herself. “Luisa?”

“And Mia!” came the small girl’s voice as she walked toward the door. “We came for your pizza!”

Rose opened the door and as soon as she did, Mia was in the room, looking around. “You didn’t throw it away yet, did you?”

“What, you want that stuff?” Rose asked Mia, but her eyes met Luisa’s with a broad grin. Luisa just gave her a little look, head tilting to one side, and Rose moved out of the way so she could follow her into her hotel room. She turned to Mia as soon as the door was shut. “That pizza was _horrible_.”

“It’s my favorite!” Mia said, turning to face Rose with a pout. “And you aren’t supposed to waste food because there are kids starving in Africa so you have to have it around here somewhere so that you can eat the rest of it or so you can send it to them and you _can’t_ send it to them because _I_ want it and you don’t like it and I’ll eat it.

“ _We’ll_ eat it,” Luisa corrected. She turned to Rose, voice a little softer. “It’s really okay if you threw it away. I don’t hold that against you.”

“I know.” Rose stepped forward and placed a hand on Mia’s shoulder. “I still have the boxes in the fridge. You just stay here and let me get them for you.” She walked over towards the fridge, already knowing that Mia wouldn’t stay put. Mia _never_ stayed put.

It was while she was pulling the boxes from the fridge that she heard it – the “ _Oh, wow!_ ” followed by a sudden clamping off of Mia’s voice, the smack of hands across her mouth. Rose turned with the boxes and saw that Mia had clapped her hands over her lips to keep from speaking further, had turned with wide brown eyes to face her with a face white with some sort of emotion Rose couldn’t name.

_Of course._

Rose placed the pizza boxes on her bed – normally she’d try to compile leftover pizza in _one_ box, but there was so much left there wasn’t enough room – and crawled across it so that she was sitting almost next to where Mia was standing. “The nutcrackers, right?”

Mia nodded, slowly moving her hands from her face. “I didn’t want to ask because I know you don’t like talking about it and I didn’t want to make you mad again but they’re really pretty and I thought you only bought three but there are four of them there and I wanted to know where you got the other one because I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. Did you bring it with you?”

Luisa moved to stand on Mia’s other side, placing her hand on her shoulder. “She doesn’t have to talk about it.”

“I know but she brought it up and I was just asking.”

“It’s alright.” Rose nodded towards the nutcrackers. “I brought that one with me. They’re almost a matching set.”

“Almost?” Mia asked.

Rose smiled. “Almost.” She knew that wasn’t what the little girl was asking, but she didn’t want to explain further. She got up off the bed and picked the Clara nutcracker up and held her out. “Would you like to see her?”

Mia’s brown eyes grew even wider, and she looked to Luisa, who gave her a little nod. She reached one hand out and tentatively touched the nutcracker. Then she took a deep breath and took her, still just as cautious, and held her up just so she could look at her.

“Be careful,” Rose said. “She’s very old, and she doesn’t get to see people very often.”

“Ok.”

But Rose hadn’t really needed to say anything with how careful Mia acted with the nutcracker in her hands. She tried the wooden cracking mechanism in the back a couple of times – and the first time she’d moved it so fast there was a loud clack! Mia looked up, her face white again, but Rose didn’t say anything or demand the doll back. The second time, she was much softer.

“You want the loud, if you’re using her the way she’s meant to be used.”

“For peanuts and walnuts and almonds and all sorts of nuts, right?”

“That’s right.” Rose sat on the bed next to her again. “But she hasn’t done any of that in a long time, either.”

“How come?”

Rose looked up and met Luisa’s eyes briefly. “She doesn’t get out much.”

Mia held the wooden doll close and leaned her head back so that she could meet Rose’s eyes. “What’s her name?”

Rose’s eyes flicked down to meet Mia’s then back to Luisa’s and then back to the child’s. “Clara. Like in the story of the Nutcracker.”

Mia’s brow furrowed, and she frowned. “What nutcracker story? I haven’t heard of any nutcracker story, and Mom would’ve told me if there was one. Unless she doesn’t know it.” She looked over towards her mother. “Did _you_ know there was a nutcracker story?”

“Well,” Luisa said hesitantly, and when Rose patted the spot next to her on the bed, Luisa moved over and sat next to her, running her fingers through Mia’s curls, “I know there _is_ one, but it’s never been one of my particular favorites.”

“Is it one of yours?” Mia asked Rose. “Is that why you have Clara?”

“Let me tell it to you,” Rose said, and she moved from the bed just long enough to get the other three nutcrackers. Then she returned and held her hand out for Clara. “I’ll give her back when I’m done.”

“You don’t have to,” Mia said with a shake of her head. “I know you don’t like sharing her.” Her eyes moved to the other three nutcrackers. “Or is it just them?”

“Mia,” Luisa murmured, her voice soft.

“She was letting me ask!” Mia exclaimed as she clambered up on the bed and sat in her mother’s lap to watch the story Rose was planning to tell.

Rose didn’t answer her question, just held up the first two nutcrackers – Clara and the prince. “Once upon a time, a very long time ago, there was a little girl named Clara. She and her family weren’t very rich, but she had a rich old uncle who would come around and give everyone presents at Christmas. One Christmas, his present to Clara was a nutcracker made to look like a soldier with a little toy gun.” She held up the nutcracker prince for Mia to see. “Now, Clara’s little brother was jealous and stole the nutcracker from her, and while he was playing with him, the nutcracker’s head popped clean off.”

Mia gasped. “So _that’s_ why you don’t want me playing with them!”

Rose nodded solemnly.

“I wouldn’t ever do that,” Mia said. She took one of Luisa’s hands and held it in her lap. “I know how important they are to you.”

“I know.” Rose reached over and tapped Mia’s nose once. “Now, Clara took her little nutcracker doll and wrapped his head up with a ribbon so that it was tied back on, and when she went to sleep, it was cradling him the same way you might with one of your stuffed animals or toys.” She looked up to see Luisa’s head give a little nod. “Clara woke up while it was still dark, and her nutcracker had disappeared! She heard some sounds in the hallway, and she went to go check them out.”

“Just like _I_ would!”

“Just like you would,” Luisa echoed, her eyes meeting Rose’s with a twinkle.

Rose smiled at Luisa before continuing. “When she found the sounds, there was a war going on! There was her little nutcracker soldier,” and here she held up the nutcracker prince, “with his head tied on and a bunch of other soldiers with him fighting against a gang of mice led by a mouse king!” She brought over the mouse king nutcracker and showed him fighting with the nutcracker prince, while the Clara nutcracker stood off to one side, watching. “The nutcracker and his soldiers were having a hard time, because they were all made of wood and the mice were gnawing them to pieces.

“But then Clara entered the fight! She started attacking the mice – which was easier for her, being child-sized instead of nutcracker or mouse-sized – but then a mouse witch showed up and turned her into their size! Even then, she kept fighting, taking one of the soldier’s guns and another one’s knife and going after the mice attacking her prince!”

Rose opened her mouth to say something as the little Clara doll started attacking the mouse nutcracker, but she looked up and saw Luisa’s eyes – _wide_ and worried – and she stopped herself just in time. She put the Clara doll over to one side. “With Clara’s help, the nutcracker and his soldiers defeated the mouse king. The nutcracker took the mouse king’s crown and put it on, and all at once, he became a man again! He took Clara’s hands and told her that she’d broken the spell over him and thanked her for taking such good care of him. Then he took her away to his magical kingdom.

“Once there, she met the queen of the sugar plum fairies,” and here Rose pulled over the last of the four nutcrackers. “The queen thanked the nutcracker king and Clara for defeating the mouse king and his minions, who had been enslaving her and the fairies. She gave them great gifts, and her people danced for them. And Clara lived in the kingdom of her king and the fairies for the rest of her life and eventually became a good and just queen who everyone loved.

“And that’s the story of Clara and the nutcracker.”

Then Rose took the four nutcrackers and handed them over to Mia so that she could play with them.

Mia took the four dolls and gathered them up together, looking at all of them. “No wonder you like her so much,” she said, holding Clara out special. “She was strong and fought the mice and saved the prince. All on her own!”

“Yes, she did.” Luisa brushed a hand through Mia’s hair again, but her eyes didn’t leave Rose.

Mia swatted at Luisa’s hand, then she took the nutcrackers and moved back on the floor with them. Rose understood that – she’d done the same thing when she was small, making sure that she wouldn’t drop her mother’s nutcrackers so far that they’d break by sitting on the floor and playing with them there.

Rose reached over and touched Luisa’s hand then tilted her head towards the kitchen. Then she got up from the bed and moved away, happy to find, when she leaned against the kitchen counter, that Luisa had chosen to come with her. “I hope that was okay.”

“I’m surprised. You…handled that really well, for someone who admittedly hates to share her nutcrackers and never wanted anyone to ask about them ever at all ever.”

Rose’s lips curved into an easy smirk. “Well, maybe I changed my mind. Or _maybe_ ,” and here she stepped forward closer to Luisa again, “it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.” Her eyes met Luisa’s, and she cupped her face with one hand.

“Not in front of Mia.” Luisa tried to avoid Rose’s gaze, looking down at her hands. “Please.”

“She’s playing. And you’ve said before that she won’t notice.”

“You _say_ that,” Luisa started, her head tilting to one side, “but I know my daughter. _This_ she’ll notice. I don’t want her involved, Rose.”

“Ok,” Rose said, but she didn’t move her hand from Luisa’s cheek, instead skimming her skin. “If that’s what you want.”

“It is.”

Luisa’s voice was soft, and her fingers tentatively reached out to touch the edge of Rose’s shirt. She stayed like that for a moment before looking up, and as soon as her eyes met Rose’s again, she leaned forward, lips ghosting along Rose’s.

Rose took a deep breath, brushing her nose against Luisa’s, and waited. Where Luisa’s fingers just traced the skin of her waist, it felt like fire, and she couldn’t help the way her hand instinctively began to move from Luisa’s cheek to her hair, mussing it from its already untidy bun.

Luisa glanced down to Rose’s lips. Then she took a deep breath, and when she looked up, Rose could see the longing in her eyes. Another breath, and she pulled back. “Mia!”

“Yes, Mom?”

“Get the pizza boxes and put the nutcrackers up. We need to get going. Rose needs some time to herself.”

“Aw, _Mom_!”

Luisa leaned forward just enough to give Rose another kiss then stepped away from her entirely. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, her voice husky. “Make sure you wear something _nice_.”

“I will.” Rose didn’t move from the counter as Luisa left the kitchen, and when she heard the door click shut after Luisa and Mia left, she released a huge breath with a smile. She’d thought having to be up here in Longbourne over the holidays would be a waste of her charm, but here she’d found the hotel owner to be almost equal to her in terms of… _all of this_ , if she could even put a word to it.

She did, of course, understand why Luisa didn’t want Mia to know. It wouldn’t be fair to the girl, not with Rose leaving in only a few more days. It wouldn’t be nice to let her get attached.

Rose returned to the floor next to her bed where Mia had been playing with her nutcrackers and picked them up before centering them on her little grey cardboard box again, Clara standing in front. Then, on second thought, she moved the cardboard box to her bedside table and left the nutcrackers standing on the dresser. They didn’t need any additional height. They looked beautiful just the way they were.

Then she took a deep breath. Thinking about the whole situation, there was something else she’d been meaning to do.

Rose pulled out her phone and looked through her contacts before finding Elena’s number. She wasn’t even sure if it was the right one after all this time. Truth be told, she really didn’t want to call in the first place. But she was still upset with Rafael Solano – _she remembered his name_ – and the hotel Luisa had identified as the Marbella. There wasn’t anything noble in her decision to call her stepmother – it wasn’t as though she were doing this to protect any vacationers in the future.

But a hotel owner shouldn’t act like that – _continue_ to act like that – and get away with it.

She took a deep breath and called the number.

It rang and rang before going directly to voicemail. She hung up as soon as she heard the voice of her stepmother like an automated message: _This is the phone of Elena di Nola. Thank you for calling, but I am unavailable at the moment. Please leave your name, number, and the reason you are calling, and I will get back to you as soon as possible._ Only, for most people, Elena wouldn’t get back to them at all. In this case, Rose hoped that Elena would see her number and ignore it entirely, the same way she had for most of her life.

Of course, she did not have such luck.

Her phone rang almost as soon as she placed it on the bedside table, and as it shook, Elena’s number glared on the touch screen. She hesitated before swiping right and picking the phone back up.

“Hello?”

“Rose, you are supposed to leave a message when you call.”

Of course. Not thirty seconds into the phone call, and Elena was already telling her how to correct her life. “Sorry. I changed my mind. It wasn’t that important.”

“It’s the first time you’ve called me in three years. It _must_ be important.”

Rose could hear her stepmother’s exasperation on the other end of the phone. She knew her stepmother well enough to know that she was sitting somewhere – at a table, at a desk, _somewhere_ – with one long leg crossed over the other in a skirt far too short (and this coming from Rose, who _enjoyed_ women in short skirts – it was just awkward when it was her stepmother). Her fingers would be tapping on the surface in front of her. She was impatient. She was _always_ impatient when it came to Rose.

“There’s a problem with one of the hotels in Miami—”

“You don’t work for me anymore, Rose. I don’t care what sort of _problem_ you’ve run into—”

“It’s called the Marbella, and it’s run by one Rafael Solano.”

Elena quieted then, and it seemed to Rose that she’d mentioned something important. There was silence before Elena said, finally, like a fish on the hook, “What’s going on at the Marbella?”

“Well, it’s not just the Marbella, apparently, it’s a host of the hotels—”

“Rose.” Elena interrupted her once more, as she had the habit of doing. “You called about the Marbella. Tell me what’s happening there. Not everywhere else. _There._ ”

“They intentionally overbook for Christmas and then send their extra guests to a place called the Longbourne Inn.” Rose moved to stand in front of the window, and she could see Mia and Luisa outside, playing in the snow.

“So it’s a two-hotel plot.”

“No,” Rose said immediately. “I don’t think the owner at the Longbourne is involved. She—”

“—is a woman, and so you won’t believe she’s involved even if she is. You’re too busy worried about—”

“ _She’s not involved_.” Rose’s voice tensed, her teeth gritting together. Of course Elena would think that. She always wanted to see bigger plots than there actually were. “In fact, she seemed surprised I was here. I think she’s told this Rafael to stop what he’s doing – him and the other hotel owners in Miami – but he does it anyway.”

“And this year he just happened to screw you over.”

“Yes.” Rose’s voice was soft, angry.

“So you want to screw _him_ over.”

“Yes.” There was no hesitation in her voice. It held the same soft, angry quality. She couldn’t stop it if she tried.

“And what do I get out of this?”

Rose continued to watch Luisa and Mia out in the snow until Luisa fell back as though to make a snow angel. Luisa looked straight up at the sky, then she glanced over to Rose’s window, and Rose turned away just enough so that it didn’t look like she was watching them. “What do you want?”

“What do you have?”

Rose sighed. “I’m sure you can take the Marbella if you want it. Prime real estate in Miami with a great view of the beach. With a scandal involving their owner, I’m sure the board would love someone else to jump in and clear everything up. Given your history with hotels, they would more than leap at the chance for your input.”

“Except that I haven’t consulted or owned a hotel in years. You know that, Rose.”

“It’s a thought.” Rose sighed. “I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

“You’re right. I will.” Elena was silent, and Rose was sure she was looking at something else for a moment before she said, finally, “I need to go. I’ll look into this shortly.”

“Derek and his family are there, aren’t they?”

“You’d know if you were here.”

“You know why I’m not there.”

Another long silence. “It was nice talking to you, Rose.”

 _Nice_ wouldn’t be the word Rose would use, if she mentioned her stepmother or the conversation to anyone. She placed her phone over to one side as she hung up and took a deep breath. Talking to Elena felt like crawling through mud and slime. She felt _dirty_ , and not in the good way. This would be the perfect opportunity to go spend time with the hotel owner and her daughter – good, clean fun out in the snow – but it was important to give them family time, just as it was important for her to have alone time.

Rose lay back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling, letting out another breath. The problem with _alone time_ was that it often ended with _boredom_. She could hear the mother-daughter pair outside – the snowballs hitting the side of the inn and Mia’s giggling, loud even now. The sound brought a smile to her face.

Maybe she should take the time to pick out what she was going to wear for that Christmas Ball tomorrow. Luisa had said _something nice_ , and she _certainly_ had more than enough material to cover that.

But she didn’t want to look nice. She wanted to be _breathtaking_.

* * *

That evening and the next morning passed far too slowly for Rose’s liking. She was bored all too soon after Luisa and Mia left, and it was all she could do to not go down that evening and request to sit with them for a movie or for dinner – _not_ because she _liked them_ or anything, but because she couldn’t think of much of anything else to do in the little town of Longbourne. The next morning, there was breakfast waiting for her downstairs, along with a large pot of coffee, but Luisa and Mia were nowhere to be seen. She’d had a cup of coffee and more cereal (and while she thought about having the biscuits with gravy, she decided to take some upstairs and save it for later), then she’d gone out on the grounds of the inn for a walk. She’d followed the boot prints she assumed belonged to the hotel owner and her daughter and found the snow angels the two had made the previous day, the wings just touching, as well as what looked to be a snow family – two women and a little girl in front of them and something that she thought must have been a puppy, if she looked at it in just the right light. She’d just touched the snow puppy’s nose with the tip of one gloved hand before walking a little further back, nearing the edge of the woods. From there, she could see her window with its little light, but nothing much other than that. She only went back inside when she began to feel her stomach start to rumble, no matter how cold she’d gotten or how red the tip of her own nose likely was.

“Fancy seeing you outside,” came a voice from just inside the door as Rose went back inside, and she saw Luisa curled up in the hotel’s common area, on one of the couches just by the tree they’d decorated a few days ago. Luisa lifted a book in greeting and patted the sofa next to her. “We should talk.”

“About?” Rose asked as she moved to sit next to Luisa, pulling off her gloves and setting them on the couch next to her.

Luisa glanced about the room once then moved over to Rose. “Is it okay if I—?”

“Of course.” Rose reached over, fingers tracing Luisa’s opposite shoulder, and Luisa curled up next to her. She could feel Luisa relax all at once. “Now, is something wrong?” She ran a hand through Luisa’s hair, which was down instead of up as it normally was. “It’s been a few days; do I need to pay you again? I know what I gave you before should have only covered the first couple of days. Just tell me what you need.”

“I don’t need anything.”

Rose’s brows raised, and then they settled as she grinned. “Have I been paying you well enough with _other_ favors?”

Luisa’s head snapped up from where she’d been laying against Rose’s chest. “ _Rose._ ”

“A bad hotel runs anywhere from forty to fifty dollars. Yours is good. I’m sure it’s worth more than that. The only reason you’re not letting me pay—”

“ _Fine_.” Luisa nodded to the front counter. “You can pay me whatever you want _whenever_ you want, just _stop_ with that.” She moved Rose’s arm so that it was closer to her, so that her hand landed just around her waist. Then she tangled their fingers together. “I want to talk about the ball.”

“What about it?”

Luisa took a deep breath and began to trace circles on Rose’s hand. “I’ve lived here a long time, and there aren’t a lot of people here. Very few people leave. And _everyone_ goes to the Christmas Ball, and they bring their families with them.”

“So what you’re saying is I have a good opportunity to run into your girlfriend.”

Luisa’s breath hitched in her throat, and her eyes widened. She bit her lower lip and refused to look up.

Rose chuckled quietly, the sound a low rumble in her chest.

“What’s so funny?”

Rose lifted Luisa’s chin so that she could look her in the eye. “You’re _cute_ , Luisa, and it’s been years since your wife died. You have to have _someone_ , even if it’s just to keep your bed warm every now and again.”

“ _That’s_ a nice way to put it.” Luisa settled against Rose, relaxing again, but she continued to look up at Rose. “But I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“You have a _something_ with the pizza girl.”

“I have a something,” Luisa admitted, and when Rose moved her fingers from her chin, she lowered her head again. “It’s not something I like or something I even want, and Mia doesn’t like her at all, but it’s….” Luisa shook her head. “I’m not fooling anyone. It doesn’t _work_. I _told_ you it doesn’t work. But Allison doesn’t see it that way, and I don’t—”

“Want to hurt her?” Rose leaned back just enough so she could meet Luisa’s eyes again. “Do you want me not to go?”

“I _asked_ you to go, Rose.”

“You could change your mind.”

Luisa looked back up at her, brows raising. “Would that keep you from going?”

“No.” Rose brushed a few strands of Luisa’s hair out of her face. “I want to go to the ball with you on a real date.”

“Even though you’re leaving.”

Rose shrugged once. “Maybe I won’t leave.”

Luisa stifled a laugh. “Don’t lie to me, Rose. You’re going to leave just like everyone leaves who doesn’t already live in this town. That’s the way it works.” Her grip tightened on Rose’s hand. “Please don’t ruin this by lying to me.”

“Someone has to stay eventually,” Rose said, her voice soft. “Why can’t that be me?”

Luisa shook her head. “People like you don’t stay.”

“We might.”

“Don’t.”

“It’s not like I have anything _better_ to do.”

“You’ll get bored here. You don’t want to stay here. Please quit lying to me.” Luisa untangled herself from Rose’s side and moved back to the other corner of the sofa. “And please be careful at the ball. I still have to live afterwards.” She rolled her lips together. “Can I trust you to do that?”

 _No_ , Rose wanted to say. She had no reason _not_ to say it. Besides, her entire modus operandi during the holidays was to ruin them for women and their families – especially the married women who needed a good nudge in a different direction, something they could look back on as a present to themselves. She’d made a life out of being that woman, regardless of whether _she’d_ been in a relationship or not. It was easy enough to find a way to be somewhere else over the season, whether that was through having a fight with her girlfriend or not wanting to go back with her to her family or, as in Heidi’s case, a break-up, although that was mostly on _her_ end and not on the other’s (and she was still upset with Heidi for that).

But that wasn’t what she said.

“Of course,” Rose murmured, but she wasn’t sure the words were true in the slightest. Drama followed her wherever she went, even when she didn’t want it. Especially when she didn’t want it. At a celebration like this? Try as she might to not ruin Luisa’s life, it didn’t seem like it would be likely.

And, staring at the woman across from her, a hotel owner who she had only met a few days previously, she didn’t know why she would suddenly care if she did when she’d never cared before.

* * *

The sun was just beginning to lower past the horizon when Luisa knocked on the door to Rose’s hotel room. Her fingers fiddled with the thin gold chain of her light pink purse – a soft _rose_ color to match her dress, which mimicked the sunset outside – a pale white with shades of soft blue, faded rose, and gentle orange spread here and there like cirrus clouds. _Not_ a winter dress, something meant to be worn during the hot days of summer – but she’d wanted….

She’d wanted to be seen in something light before Rose left – whenever that ended up being. She wasn’t sure she would have the occasion after the ball.

Her lips pressed together as she waited outside the room, and after a few moments, she rapped one knuckle against the door again. “Rose?” she called. “If you’re coming, we need to leave soon.” She lowered her head and ran a hand through her hair. She’d worn it down – straight – because after everything, she believed that was the way it would look best, instead of the waves she sometimes used for fancy occasions.

“I’ll be right there.”

Luisa could hear the light click-clack of heels through the door, a light pause (maybe she was looking in the mirror for one final self-appraisal?), and then the sound of the heels growing louder as she approached. She stepped back as the door opened, and her breath caught in her throat.

She’d thought the _zoot suit_ and the _dress_ were beautiful, and on some level she must have known that whatever Rose chose to wear would look gorgeous on her. And it stood to reason that it would be _more_ astounding than either of those, given that she’d probably had it tailored to her specific proportions, to accentuate in a way that would give the greatest impact. But she hadn’t really spent time thinking about that.

Well, she’d _fantasized_ a bit.

Okay, maybe more than a bit.

Okay, _maybe a lot_ in the past few days, increasingly the more they’d gotten to know each other (and particularly after the _not_ date that Allison had so rudely interrupted). But she didn’t think Rose would _mind_ that. In fact, Rose acted in such a way that seemed to imply that she would feel _offended_ if Luisa hadn’t fantasized about her in one way or another.

That wasn’t the point.

 _The point_ was that Rose was standing before her, moving forward and shutting the door, in a tuxedo. Not even just a normal suit – it was a full on tux of a deep, midnight blue with black satin lapels and a waist coat of the same color as the tux, a black silk tie, and with cufflinks of rose gold in the shape of – _why is she surprised_ – roses. Her hair wasn’t in the same frizzy curls she’d worn the entire time she’d been there; instead, it was meticulously curled into waves that were parted to one side so that they just caressed one shoulder. A ring of rose gold adorned her right middle finger – although this one seemed to take the shape of a fox, the end of its tail touching the tip end of its nose, a tiny sapphire in place for its eye.

When Rose finally turned around, her eyes seemed to pop from the blue of the suit, and the grin Luisa expected to see decorating her lips – _oh, goodness, her lips, this was unfair_ – was much softer, much more demure. Her gaze took in the soft colors of Luisa’s dress – Luisa could feel the weight of her eyes hugging her curves, lingering on her chest – before returning to Luisa’s eyes. “ _Beautiful_ ,” she murmured.

“You, too,” Luisa said, not letting her gaze drop from Rose’s eyes.

“I think the appropriate term is _handsome_ ,” Rose said – and there was the grin, the tip of her tongue swiping her lower lip, “but I will accept beautiful.” She reached out, brushing Luisa’s hair back, fingers grazing her skin. “We’re a good pair.”

Luisa nodded once, slowly, and then she took another, quick breath, shaking herself out of whatever she had fallen into. “We need to go. _We need to go._ Mia’s already gone—”

“I thought she came with us?” Rose’s face fell just the slightest bit. “After all of that effort, and she doesn’t even get to see what I look like.”

Luisa’s eyes narrowed. “Just who are you dressing up for?” She turned and started down the stairway.

“ _You_ , of course.” Rose caught up quickly enough, laying her hand on Luisa’s shoulder.

Luisa shivered at the touch but just kept walking. “Then it shouldn’t matter if Mia’s here to see you or not.”

“She’ll be disappointed.”

“We can take pictures.” Luisa stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned back to Rose with another deep breath. She moved one hand to brush an errant strand out of Rose’s face and hesitated again.

Much to her surprise, Rose covered Luisa’s hand with one of her own and brought it closer to cup her cheek. “You _can_ touch me, you know,” she whispered. “I won’t break.”

“I know.” Luisa couldn’t help but smile, breath sticking in her chest.

Rose glanced over Luisa’s shoulder and then back to Luisa, lips curved into what Luisa was coming to acknowledge as her signature grin (and Luisa felt her heart drop in anticipation for whatever she would say next). “How long is Mia with the other kids?”

_Oh._

Luisa’s gaze flicked away. She didn’t want to meet Rose’s eyes because she knew if she did that would sway her opinion on the matter. And yet, she still found her saying, voice soft, “I could arrange for her to go home with one of the other kids. If,” and here she paused, looking up to meet Rose’s eyes again – and she shouldn’t have, she _knew_ she shouldn’t have, “if things seem to be going…well.”

“I guess I’ll need to be on my best behavior then, won’t I?”

“Mmm.” Luisa nodded again. “We should go.”

“Yes, let’s,” Rose replied, pulling over her black overcoat. “Lead the way.”

* * *

Rose smiled as they arrived at Dee’s – the only place in town big enough for a party of this size – formal or not. “I’m interested in seeing how everyone else looks at this thing. Especially your girlfriend.” She turned to Luisa and gave her a bright wink.

Luisa scowled. “ _She’s not my girlfriend._ ”

“Close enough.”

Luisa whirled around and placed a hand on Rose’s arm, stopping her. “You promised to be good.”

“I _promised_ no such thing.” Rose bent down just enough to press a kiss to Luisa’s cheek and grinned as she watched Luisa freeze. “I _said_ I’d be good.”

“Rose,” Luisa managed to make out, training Rose’s head down and forcing their eyes to meet. “Please. Don’t make life harder for me.”

“Luisa, my _being here_ makes life harder for you.” Rose took the other woman’s hand in her own and gave it a gentle squeeze. “But I don’t plan on getting into any fistfights in my tux. Just because I _can_ buy another one doesn’t mean I _should_. Not when this one looks so _beautiful_ on me.” She brushed a finger just along Luisa’s cheek. “Don’t worry. I won’t intentionally ruin our date.”

“You didn’t intentionally snap at Mia or fight with Allison either, but those still happened.”

Rose took a deep breath and let it out, nodding once. “I was _right_ where your girlfriend is concerned.”

“She’s _not_ my girlfriend. I brought _you_ here, and I really wish you’d quit calling her that.” Luisa turned away, crossing her arms, and her little huff left a cloud lingering in the air. She shivered once and pulled her tan coat a little closer around her.

“Here.” Rose removed her big black overcoat and wrapped it around Luisa’s shoulders. When Luisa began to make a sound of dismay, she stepped away, hands out. “Look, between the suit jacket, the waist coat, the button up, _and the undershirt_ , I think I’m warm enough. You can keep that until we get inside.”

Then Rose watched as Luisa’s lips curved into a fond smile. “Thank you.”

Rose tilted her head towards the restaurant. “Do you want to go inside now, or do you want to stand out here and continue to tell me how I should act?”

“Inside, please,” Luisa said, and she slipped one of her hands into Rose’s, giving it a little squeeze of her own, as they headed inside.

Just inside the restaurant’s doors was what looked to be a waiter in a black suit. He held the door open for the two of them, and when they were inside, he took their coats from Luisa and hung them up. Luisa shivered again as she grew accustomed to the warmth of the restaurant, then she turned to Rose with a relaxing breath. “Let me show you around.”

Rose had already begun to scan the restaurant to get a better idea of how everything was set up. Most of the tables and chairs had been swept away, leaving a large area for congregating in the first room. The counter was covered with various party dishes, although there were little menus out and about if someone wanted more than what was available for them. Behind the counter, there was another man, but this one was in a little less formal attire, instead wearing all black. _He must be the bartender_. Rose could hear the sounds of music softly playing from the far room, and it seemed empty enough that they must be using that room as a dance floor, even though she couldn’t quite see it.

Before that, however—

“Can I get you a drink?” Rose asked as she and Luisa stopped just inside the congregation area, not quite near to the bar.

Luisa shook her head, and her smile fell just the slightest bit. “No, thank you. I’ve been sober for…. It’ll be four years on Christmas.” Her eyes lifted.

“I’m very proud of you,” Rose said as their eyes met. She ran a hand up and down Luisa’s back before letting it rest just at her waist. “Would you like anything else? Water, maybe? Or hot chocolate?” There was a brief twinkle in her eye as she watched how the hotel owner would respond.

“Water would be great,” Luisa said. “If you’re hungry, we can get something to eat before dancing. I know how you tend to skip meals.”

“I don’t skip _that_ many meals.” The tips of Rose’s fingers pressed a little bit into Luisa’s back – not an antagonistic thing in the slightest, and she warmed as Luisa leaned back into her touch. “Are you hungry?”

“A little bit.”

Rose nodded. “Get something to eat, find us a place to seat, and I’ll find you with the drinks. How does that sound?”

“Good,” Luisa murmured. “Really good.”

The two split ways, and after giving the bartender her request – two waters, because if Luisa wanted to remain sober, so would she – Rose turned and leaned back against the counter, watching as Luisa made her way through the buffet bar. Every now and then, Luisa would stop to talk to one of the other people there – someone Rose hadn’t met, typically – and she would smile. Once or twice, her gaze drifted over to Rose, and their eyes would meet. Then Luisa’s grin would become a little brighter before she would turn away again.

It didn’t take long for the bartender to return with the two glasses of water, and Rose made her way over to where Luisa was sitting at one of the few tables left up, a small round one with one seat open across from her. “So, what do you suggest I try?” Rose asked as she put the glasses down across from each other. “Is there anything that is particularly _I haven’t lived_ over there?”

“The meatballs,” Luisa said. “And the pesto ravioli.” She took a bite of one of the meatballs, and her face scrunched up. “Okay, maybe _not_ the meatballs this year. They taste a little off.”

Rose grinned in that way she did when she was amused but not enough to laugh and gave Luisa a little nod. “Pesto ravioli. _Maybe_ the meatballs. Anything else?”

“Whatever you think looks good. Everything Dee makes is good.”

“Except for the meatballs.”

Luisa’s head wobbled back and forth. “They’re better than any others I’ve had – other than _last year’s_.” She lifted her fork and tacked it in Rose’s direction. “Eat at your own risk.”

“Got it.” Rose leaned down as though to kiss Luisa’s forehead, but Luisa moved back, eyes wide as they met Rose’s. Then Rose let out a sigh. “Is that what you meant by _being good_?”

Luisa didn’t say anything, just munched on her food with a smile of chagrin. She tilted her head over towards the food. _Go._ She seemed to say. _We can deal with this later._

 _Or not at all_ , Rose thought as she left the table. She returned to the counter, which was still laden with all sorts of food, and got into what was now a _much longer_ line to get what she wanted. Once she finally got a plate, she made sure to get the pesto ravioli Luisa had mentioned, as well as a couple of the meatballs – if they were good, she could go back for more later, and given Luisa and Mia’s weekly pizza orders, Rose wasn’t sure she could trust the hotel owner’s taste buds. It was while she was dipping a much too large spoon into what looked to be a big bowl of dip (something vaguely Mexican, but _not_ queso) to cover her chips that someone tapped on her shoulder. Instead of startling, Rose’s whole body _tensed_ so as not to get anything on her suit. Even without the suit, it would have been reflex, even if—

Rose turned around once she had her chips and dip and found herself face to face with the pizza delivery girl from a couple of days before. “Allison,” she murmured, eyes focusing entirely on the girl’s brown ones – which, unlike Luisa’s, were only a mixture of caramel and chocolate – no trail of forest green hidden in their depths. Beautiful, maybe, for some people. Rose wasn’t interested.

“I’m surprised you’re here,” Allison said without even a hint of a smile, eyes flicking back up and down as though taking in Rose’s appearance. “You look nice.”

“So do you.”

Rose wasn’t _lying_ , even if she wasn’t particularly interested. Allison’d pulled her hair up in a mixture of curls, pinned up and cascading down until their edges just brushed her bare shoulders. Given the cold, she thought her strapless dress was not the _best_ decision, even if she did have a wrap just around her lower arms. The top of the dress was a cold white, more like ice than snow. There was a black ribbon tied around her tiny waist, its ends flowing out from the back, and the skirt was a black and white paisley pattern.

Her head tilted to one side as she examined Allison further. “Are you on a date?”

“No. We don’t _take_ dates to the Christmas Ball. Or didn’t Luisa tell you that?”

Rose’s eyes widened the slightest bit, and she relaxed into a chesire grin. “No. She didn’t say anything like that.” She reached forward with her empty hand and patted Allison’s bare shoulder. “Do you mind? I’d like to get back to my table.”

Allison moved out of the way, but Rose could feel the weight of her stare following her as she returned to Luisa’s table. She ignored it, refusing to turn around and give the girl anymore of the attention she obviously so desperately craved. Instead, she made sure to meet Luisa’s eyes as she sat down at the table across from her.

“So I ran into your—”

“ _Don’t call her that_ ,” Luisa said automatically, eyes flashing as she looked up from what was left of her food.

Rose tapped her fork on her plastic plate. “She said you don’t _take_ dates to the Christmas Ball. Is that a city-wide thing, or just a _you two_ thing?”

Luisa bit her lower lip and looked away before heaving a huge sigh. “That’s an _us_ thing. She asked me the first year after I—” She hesitated. “After we—” She shook her head and brushed her fingers through her hair. “I didn’t want to go with her. You know she thinks of us as something more than we are, and that, I think, would have cemented it. So I told her it’d be better if we didn’t go out in public on official dates.”

Rose nodded, chewing thoughtfully on her meatball. “You know, this is better than you made it out to be,” she said, and she reached across, swiping one of the ones remaining on Luisa’s plate from her.

“Hey!” Luisa reached across and stole one of Rose’s in return. “Eat your own food!”

Rose grinned around the meatball in her mouth. She swallowed, then said, “Maybe it would be better if you were honest with her. Tell her you don’t want to be together. You know, like an actual adult.”

“You don’t think I’ve tried?” Luisa glanced back with a pleading tone in her voice. Instead of keeping her eyes trained on Rose, she looked out the window next to them instead, watching as snow began to fall outside. Little flakes at first, slowly falling, drifting to the ground. They’d be bigger later. She knew that. “It’s not that easy. It’s—”

“—complicated,” Rose finished for her. She shrugged once as she moved to her chips. “You don’t have anyone else if you don’t have her, and something is better than nothing, right?”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“No. It is that easy.”

“It’s _selfish_ , I know,” Luisa said, crossing her hands atop the table. “But it works.”

“It doesn’t works.”

“It works well enough.” Luisa shook her head. “She’ll leave, eventually, and then it’ll be done.”

Rose shook her head. “Some people don’t leave, especially when they think they have a good reason to stay.” She pointed at Luisa with her fork. “I mean _you_ , by the way. She thinks _you_ are a good reason to stay.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Luisa snapped, her voice quiet. She shook her head again. “Can we just not talk about this?” All at once, she leaned forward, placing her hand over one of Rose’s. “Let’s just have now. And whatever it is, it is. And however I deal with it once you leave, I deal with it once you leave. I know how to take care of myself.”

“You’re not going a good job of it.” Rose leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms.

“You aren’t my caretaker, so shove off.”

“Is that really what you want?” Rose asked, gesturing to their empty plates. “Because I can get rid of these and leave, and you can have just as much fun with the people you’re normally with. It’ll be like I’m not even here.”

“Rose,” Luisa said, her voice very soft, “you know that isn’t what I want.” She took Rose’s hand in hers again. “Please. Just stay here for a little while. Dance with me.” She smiled. “We can leave our plates here. Dee has helpers who will take care of everything.”

“Luisa.”

“ _Please._ ” Luisa gave Rose’s hand a squeeze. “Don’t waste your time worrying about someone you won’t even see after a few more days.” She squeezed her hand again. “Please. For me.”

“It shouldn’t matter if it’s _for you_ if you don’t want me to concern myself with someone I won’t see after a few days,” Rose said, drawing back a little bit further, removing her hand from Luisa’s.

“Rose.”

“I’m right.”

“Yes. You’re right,” Luisa said, her voice growing snippy. “I understand that. But are you going to sit here moping the entire time wishing I was someone I’m not, or are you going to get up and dance with me?” Her eyes narrowed. “You already knew about Allison when you agreed to the date, so don’t be shitty about it now.”

“It’s not really a date if I can’t _treat you_ like a date.” Rose’s eyes moved outside the window, watching the snow that’d already grown to falling much more quickly than it had when Luisa glanced outside. “You want me to play good and not ruin your life. This is what it costs.”

Luisa leaned forward and without hesitation cupped Rose’s face with both hands. She stared straight into her eyes, lips pressed together. “ _Fine_ ,” she said, finally. “Ruin my life if you must. But _dance_ with me.”

* * *

Admittedly, Luisa learned quickly enough that Rose was absolutely horrible at dancing. She _tried_. Really, Luisa admired her for trying, but her movements were just as white as her pale skin was. She didn’t know why she’d expected otherwise. In fact, she was beginning to wonder if Rose’s attempts to weasel out of dancing had less to do with caring about Luisa or not wanting to ruin her life and more to do with acknowledging her inability to dance and being afraid she would embarrass herself in front of this town full of people who couldn’t have cared less because _most of them couldn’t really dance either_.

At one point, Luisa caught Allison staring at her from across the room, her hands crossed and an expression on her face somewhere between hurt and rage, but she knew that she would make that up. Allison liked her far too much to let her go; she’d say she was _forgiving her_ or something like that and then _take her back_ like nothing had happened. It didn’t matter if Luisa wanted her to do so or not – Allison had a bit of a hero complex.

It came from her age.

Luisa was almost about to call for a break when the band switched into a slower song. She took a deep breath, and her eyes lifted to meet the bright blue ones of the woman across from her. This time, she didn’t say anything, just watched as Rose’s eyes flicked to Allison and back again, watched as one of her brows raised – not asking permission, because Luisa understood that the other woman would never really do that, but more checking in on her and making sure that this _was_ what she wanted. Which, in a way, was a kind of permission asked.

And she granted it without further thought, drawing Rose’s arm about her waist and drawing up against her, resting her head against Rose’s shoulder. She could feel Rose’s hand moving slowly against her waist, gentle at first, and then strong as she held her. Rose lay her head on top of Luisa’s, intertwining their fingers together as they slowly swayed to the music, and when the song finally finished, Rose drew away only enough to press a kiss – gentle, comforting – to Luisa’s forehead.

Her heart beat once, hard, in her chest, and she could feel the lump gathering in her throat.

“I think,” Luisa started to say, raising one hand to cup Rose’s cheek as she looked up at her, “it’s time to go.”

“And Mia? When will she be getting back?”

Luisa smiled. “I’ll call them on the way. They’ll understand.” She took Rose’s hand in her own. “Just give me a few minutes before we leave. _Bathroom_ , you know?”

“Of course.”

Luisa separated herself from Rose and made her way to the women’s restroom, and despite the noise all around her – the chattering of other people in their nice, familiar groups or the sounds of the band still playing in the other room – she could hear the click-clack of heels following her _loud_ in her ears. She didn’t hold the door open as she entered the bathroom, but Allison nearly slammed it off its hinges as she followed her. Luisa met the eyes of the sole other inhabitant, who had been reapplying her lipstick in the mirror, and winced.

“You might not want to be in here right now.”

The other woman gave her a quick nod and hustled around them, scurrying out of the bathroom before anything could happen. the door slamming shut behind her.

“This _is_ a date, isn’t it?” Allison hissed, eyes narrowing. “You asked _that woman_ on a date?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t _deny_ it.”

“You didn’t give me any time to reply,” Luisa said, turning around and facing Allison. Her lips pressed together, but she stood her ground. “You look beautiful.”

“Don’t try to make me feel better.” Allison’s voice was softer this time, her arms crossed just above the black ribbon tied around her waist, one finger tapping against her chin. Her lips were pressed together in a thin little line, and she shook her head. “I _know_ I look beautiful.”

“But you wanted to hear it from me.” Luisa stepped forward again, and she reached out. Her fingers barely brushed Allison’s chin before the girl pulled away from her. “I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you.”

“No, I don’t think you are,” Allison said, and it hurt more because she wasn’t snapping or snippy or bitter, just _sad_. “You never wanted to come to these with me, and I thought…I thought that was because you were still getting over your wife, and I thought, in time, you’d…you’d move on.”

Luisa shook her head once. “There _is_ no moving on, Allison.”

“But you brought another date.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You brought a _stranger_ as a date.”

“I brought Rose here so she would have a good time,” Luisa said, her head lifting, eyes meeting Allison’s. “She didn’t want to be in Longbourne for Christmas—”

“So why _is_ she? A woman like that— She could be anywhere she wanted, and she’s _here_.”

“Her hotel was overbooked, and they sent her here.”

“She didn’t have to come here. She could have gone anywhere else.”

“Allison, I’m not upset with her coming here,” Luisa said, her voice soft. “I’ve enjoyed her being here, and I’m glad she came with me.” She stepped forward again and patted Allison’s face, and this time Allison didn’t move away. “And you’re right,” she said finally, voice even softer. “It _is_ a date.”

Allison nodded once. “Why?” she asked, voice quiet.

“I don’t love you, Allison,” Luisa said, very slow but very firm. To say anything else would be to lead her on, and even if she’d rather still have the option open, Rose was right. It _wasn’t_ fair to Allison. And maybe her saying it would get her to finally move on and out of Longbourne like she should have years ago.

“And you love her?”

“I don’t know,” Luisa said with a little shrug. “She probably won’t be here past Christmas. But it doesn’t really _matter_ , does it? I don’t love you.” She brushed her thumb along Allison’s cheek, wiping away a falling tear. “And you’re going to have to let me go. Please.”

Luisa moved to pass Allison, but Allison stopped her, grabbing her arm with one hand. “Are you sure?” she asked. “Are you sure you can’t even _grow_ to love me?”

“If I would have,” Luisa said, very carefully, “it would have happened by now. I’m sorry.” Then she moved her arm out of Allison’s hand and left.

When the bathroom door shut behind her, Luisa leaned back against the wall, letting out a deep breath. There. That was it. It was done. Sure, there would be ramifications of that later, but she could weather them. She still had Mia. And maybe it was time for her to be leaving Longbourne, too. Mia was old enough for school during the day – she could take a job as a doctor somewhere. It wasn’t as though she’d lost her degree. Or she could keep the inn and have it open over the summer and then bring Mia up here again over Christmas break. There weren’t really customers during the off-season, except for whoever was sent, and maybe—

Well. There would be time to think on that in the future. She didn’t need to think about all of that right now. After Rose was gone, maybe. For now, she needed to focus on her and whatever remained of their time together.

Luisa took another deep breath, and this time a grin replaced the look on her face. She went out into the common area expecting to find Rose and then leave.

She was not prepared for what she ended up seeing.

“Rafael?”

* * *

There were a lot of things Rose did _not_ expect to happen at the Christmas Ball. A fight – to some extent, she _had_ expected that, but she’d expected it to be with Luisa’s _not_ girlfriend, the pizza delivery girl. What she had _not_ expected was to see the Marbella’s hotel owner storming into the little town’s restaurant, white flakes of snow covering his overly styled black hair (and melting into it as she watched, as though that would cool him off) and dusting his thin black jacket – _someone_ was used to the Miami heat and not Longbourne’s ice cold – dark eyes flashing through the crowd looking for someone.

And stopping on her.

He still didn’t seem _astonished_ when he saw her. There was nothing in his expression to note what she was wearing, no surprise, no slight widening of the whites of his eyes, just the way they narrowed into a steady glare before he took his angry gait and strode straight towards her.

Rose was taught very early on that no matter what, she was to stand her ground. Sometimes this was foolish – particularly when it came to her alcoholic father or whatever it was Elena decided she was on any given day – her father hadn’t intentionally hurt her, but her uncle, as the disciplinarian before Elena showed up, had, and Elena had been so determined to erase Rose’s mother’s very existence that she’d tried to steamroll over every aspect of Rose’s personality that had reminded her of who she thought she might be. Not that it worked.

So Rose stood her ground as the Marbella’s hotel owner approached, head lowered in a way that made her seem a little bit more demure, even though both of her hands found their way to her suit pockets and her lips pressed into a thin little line. “What do you want, Rafael?” she asked, barely lifting her head to look at him, as though he weren’t worth her time – because, in her estimation, he wasn’t.

“You sent Elena di Nola after my hotel.”

Rose couldn’t keep the amused smile from playing across her lips at his words, and her brows rose as she let her head lean to one side. “I might have.”

“You _did_.” Rafael pounded one hand on the table next to them. Even with her heels, Rafael was inches taller than she was, and he leaned over her in a way she was sure was meant to be physically intimidating.

_Men._

Her gaze lifted just enough to see the folds of his white collar. “If I did, I would think it might be extremely _foolish_ to track me down and confront me _hours away from your hotel_ in the small town _you sent me to_.” Then her eyes flicked up to meet his. “Or are you in the habit of making bad decisions around the holidays?”

_“Rafael?”_

Rose’s gaze left Rafael entirely, moving over his shoulder to where Luisa stood just behind him. The other woman didn’t seem to see her lithe build through the brawny wide shoulders of the man _still hovering angrily over her_. She watched as Luisa moved closer to him – Rafael seemed not to have heard Luisa at all, and he didn’t move until she laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Raf, what are you doing here? Did you bring Petra or the kids?”

 _What?_ Rose paused at the comment. Who was Petra? Was that Rafael’s wife? Luisa said she knew some of the hotel owners in Miami – particularly the ones who would send her their overflow during the Christmas season – but surely she didn’t know them _that_ well.

“She called Elena,” Rafael said as he turned to face Luisa, his voice a low growl.

“Who?” Luisa looked behind Rafael to where Rose was standing. Her eyes widened just the briefest bit as she saw her, but her gaze quickly returned to the Marbella’s hotel owner. “Who’s Elena?”

“Elena is the best hotel lawyer and legal advisor in the country,” Rafael explained, keeping his eyes focused on Luisa. “Typically, someone tips her off, and she takes her team and digs up everything she can find about what’s wrong with a hotel. They bring lawsuits on behalf of any disgruntled customer, and they _win_.” He turned back to Rose, glaring at her. “And _you_ called her.”

“You’ve been overbooking your hotel over the Christmas holidays for years,” Rose said. It didn’t matter that she didn’t have _personal_ proof about that, but she knew what he’d said, knew that Luisa’d brought up that other hotels used her, too, knew that if Elena paid enough attention to the hotel’s records, she’d find that out herself. “You’ve been burdening Luisa by sending the people you’ve lied to up here—”

“He hasn’t been burdening me,” Luisa interjected, pushing through the two of them to place a hand on Rose’s shoulder. “Really, it doesn’t bother me.”

“That still doesn’t make it good hotel practice.” Rose crossed her arms and stared past Luisa at the man who was still glaring daggers in her direction. “Someone would have called her eventually. You’re just mad you got caught.”

Luisa elbowed the other hotel owner in a move that seemed far too familiar for her to act around someone she said she didn’t really know all that well. “I _told_ you to stop doing that.”

“I was trying to help,” Rafael seemed to growl. “You never leave here anymore, and anyone with eyes can tell that Allison isn’t—”

“ _Wait._ ” Rose held up a hand and took a deep breath. “The two of you are in this together.”

“No,” Luisa said, placing a hand on Rose’s shoulder, but Rose shrugged her off. “I wanted nothing to do with this, Rose. You have to believe me.”

“Then tell me what the _hell_ is going on.”

By now, Rose’s voice was quiet with her anger. This, at least, was a good thing – the hissing and silent wrath didn’t draw as much attention to them as Rafael’s loud, angry pounding had done. By now, any people who _had_ been paying attention were distracted with their own conversations. Regardless, Luisa tried to take Rose’s arm – and Rose, again, shrugged off her touch – and gestured to an empty corner of the room. Rafael started to follow them, but Luisa gave him a strange look. He stepped back and stayed at the counter, and as Rose watched, he ordered a drink from the bartender – a shot, which he quickly downed before ordering another.

Luisa stopped just in front of one of the windows, crossing her arms. She glanced outside, and Rose followed her gaze, noting that the snow was falling even more furiously now than it had when they were eating. The hotel owner pressed her lips together and gave a little nod as though encouraging herself, then said, “Rafael is my brother.” Her eyes glanced over, briefly, to meet Rose’s. “Every Christmas, he lies to one of his customers – says he’s overbooked when he’s not – and sends them up here to see me.” She shook her head a little bit. “He thinks it’ll help – with Carla, with the holidays – but it rarely does. Last year, he accidentally sent an entire family.” She looked over again, trying to read Rose’s face. “I told him to stop,” she finished, this time her voice so soft it was barely a whisper.

Rose knew that her face would be hard to read. She’d steeled it as soon as Luisa mentioned her relationship to Rafael, and she’d found her throat growing tighter, her jaw clenching together. Then she relaxed as the other woman finished. She crossed her arms, and she looked away again. “Elena won’t care about any of that.”

“So you _did_ call her.”

“She’s my stepmother,” Rose said, her voice soft, as she continued to watch the snow fall out the window. “I was her source for years. She pays really well. Then I got fed up and quit. If you’ll notice, she hasn’t made any new lawsuits recently. No one else has been properly trained, and many of them get caught.”

Luisa’s brow furrowed. “Why did you call her?”

Rose’s lips pressed together. Then she turned to face Luisa. “I thought you and Mia deserved better.” She looked away again. “Now, I’m not so sure.” She stepped away from Luisa. “I think I need to go.”

“Rose—”

“No,” Rose said, stopping Luisa with one hand. “Please. You and your brother have just been using me for the past week—”

“That’s _not_ true—”

“Yes, it is.” Rose looked up just enough to meet Luisa’s eyes. “You could have called him at any moment and had him fix the problem, and you didn’t. Because you wanted me. So please don’t act like you’re any better than he is.” She turned away just enough to see Rafael and moved towards him. “You’re taking me back to your hotel,” she said, voice firm.

“Like hell I’d do that.”

Rose looked him up and down briefly. “You need someone there to help you when Elena shows up. It needs to be me.” She glanced away from him enough to see Allison returning to the common area, her eyes red. “You’ve been drinking. I’ll drive.”

“And _your_ car?” he asked, eyes narrowing. “You’re not going to just leave your rental up here.”

“For now, yes. You’re drunk.” Rose turned to Allison just enough to nod her head in her direction. “And we’re taking her with us.”

“Me?” Allison asked, her voice soft. “Where are you taking me?”

“To the Marbella, down in Miami.”

“I don’t want to—”

Rose stepped forward, very careful not to touch the girl. “You’ve been crying. Luisa finally broke up with you.” She watched as Allison’s eyes flicked over to Luisa and then lowered as she gave a gentle nod. “You’re going to want to disappear for a few days. Trust me.” She tentatively touched Allison’s wrist. “Let me distract you.”

“I _hate_ you.”

“All the better,” Rose said with a grin. “Besides, I can you get you a _much_ better job if you come with me.”

“You’re not paying me for—”

“No.” Rose sighed. “I’m fixing something. You’ll like it. You’ll get to go all over the world, meet a lot of new people.”

Allison looked up briefly. “Why are you being nice to me?”

“I’m not,” Rose said, her voice firm as she looked over to Luisa and back again. “It’s something entirely different.” Then she thwacked her hand on the middle of Rafael’s back. “Come on. We’re leaving. _Now._ ”

* * *

Longbourne Inn was empty when Rose arrived. She and Luisa had walked through the snow to Dee’s, and she hadn’t offered her a place in Rafael’s car when she drove – to much dismay from Rafael, who was _not_ drunk but who she still refused to let drive in the snow the way it was coming down now. Prissy man child – and even if his shenanigans had the _best_ of intentions, she couldn’t help but think of him that way because _even if_ she agreed with him that Luisa should have people coming to see her during the holiday season, she wouldn’t have fucked with her hotel to do it – was curled up in the back seat, occasionally giving snide directions on what the best way to drive his car was, and even if the drive itself was extremely short, she was already so tired of his complaining that she thought it almost might be _better_ to let him drive inebriated and slam into a tree somewhere in the drive back down to Miami.

She _wouldn’t_ because that would be bad faith and because she’d be in the car with him and _she_ didn’t want to be in a car wreck, _but she thought about it_.

Luisa had decided to stay at the Christmas Ball. Her eyes had met Rose’s briefly, but she hadn’t so much as tried to join them. Maybe it was a silent acknowledgment that maybe, _just maybe_ , she’d done something wrong. Rose wasn’t letting herself think about it (mostly because if she thought about it, she’d realize she would have done the same thing that Luisa did – and, worse, if Rafael had only _mentioned_ that he had an attractive older sister who needed someone to visit her, Rose would have jumped into that with open arms).

Rafael’d put Luisa in a bad situation, and Luisa had done what she could to make the most of it without implicating her brother in his bigger crime. It wasn’t as though Luisa could just deny Rose a room and ship her back down to the Marbella and then suddenly the Marbella had a cancellation and a room all ready for her. Hotels didn’t _work_ that way, and even someone who wasn’t as privy to their inner workings as she was would catch on all too quickly.

Rose wasn’t sure who she was most frustrated with.

She wasn’t sure it mattered.

Rose was in her room just long enough to change into something _other_ than her suit – jeans, jacket, she wasn’t really paying attention to any of it – and to throw more clothes into one of her bags before grabbing her cardboard box and leaving. Most of her clothes didn’t really mean anything to her – even the suit, for all its expenses, could be replaced (and yet, she still made sure to bring it along with her anyway). The zoot suit and the new dress didn’t make their way into her single bag, and she even left an entire other suitcase or two behind.

None of it particularly mattered.

She made it downstairs in a matter of time, pulled all of her hair up under her purple cap with the blue pom – an action that was surprisingly easier with the manageable waves than it was with her normally unkempt curls – and let her eyes sweep across the little inn one last time.

The only thing she regretted, as she went through the open front door, was not being able to say goodbye to Mia – but then, perhaps that was a good thing. Mia would likely find some way to get her to stay.

Rose threw her suitcase in the trunk of Rafael’s car and slammed it shut before getting back into the driver’s seat. She turned the radio on – changed it a few times, ignoring his complaints and primarily watching Allison’s reactions – the other girl’s eyes were trained straight ahead, into the swiftly falling snow. Rose passed her a phone.

“Call your parents. Let them know you won’t be coming home.”

Allison shook her head. “They know not to expect me after the ball. I always find someone.” She looked down at her hands. “Sometimes the same someone.” Her voice was small then. “I’ll call them tomorrow.”

“As long as you call,” Rose said, her voice tight. “I don’t want another pair of angry parents coming after me because they think I’ve kidnapped their daughter.”

Allison turned to her, brows lifted. “That actually happened?”

“I’ll tell you the story on the way down.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize, again, if the quality of this chapter is not as good as the others. I was more time crunched on this fic than I thought I would be, and this...this is a rough draft. I have reread part of the beginning, but most of this was me trying to finish this chapter on time. So I'm sorry if it feels rushed - particularly at the end - or if threads feel like they weren't completed well.
> 
> But! It's done! And it's late for me - way too close to time on posting - otherwise I would've gotten it a bit more polished, but it's done!
> 
> So I hope you enjoy the end of this book!

If there was one good thing about the Marbella or about her room in it, that was the sun, hot and bright, beating through the window.

Not only was Rafael _not_ overbooked, he wasn’t even _full_ , and he must have intentionally chosen the worst room he had left for her. (Just like his sister had planned to do for inconvenience sake, although Luisa, at least, had stopped being petty enough to make the experience more than wonderful. _Not_ that she was thinking about Luisa right now. She wasn’t. At all.)

Rafael had placed Rose somewhere high enough to require _either_ a long elevator ride (she didn’t care) or multiple flights of stairs (still didn’t care) and with a view of the building behind them because _no one wants a view of the beach_. She briefly wondered if this would be the same treatment her stepmother would get when she arrived, but that line of thought didn’t go very far. Elena _always_ got the best rooms. Hotel owners liked to suck up to her in the hopes that their slight– or, in some cases, _not so slight_ – indiscretions would be ignored and covered up. It never worked. If anything, it just made Elena more hungry to find out what was wrong. The better the room, the harder she searched.

And she always uncovered something. No one was perfect.

Especially not when someone – like Rose herself – had tipped her off to a problem beforehand.

Rose had slept on the couch, a gentlemanly maneuver since – despite the _multiple_ open rooms, Rafael had forced her to share one with the girl she’d brought along with her. Allison hadn’t had any extra clothes of her own, and rather than wear any of Rose’s to sleep, the girl had decided to do so in her underwear. It wasn’t as though Rose hadn’t given her the option. Allison just left the clothes over to one side instead.

Besides, Rose was _used_ to sleeping on couches or other assumedly uncomfortable positions or locations. This wasn’t _new_.

After starting a pot of coffee in their room, Rose had made it downstairs to the continental breakfast, where Rafael had been talking with some of his customers. He noticed her just long enough to glare in her direction and then proceeded to ignore her the rest of her time there. Not that _that_ mattered either. Rose waved in his direction once, and his reaction was enough for her.

She hadn’t eaten in the lounge with the happy families and couples. She’d gotten enough food for herself – initially it was meant to just be cereal (he did _not_ have Kix, so she settled for something with significantly more sugar), but noticing the bacon reminded her of Luisa’s gentle suggestion, and she took a couple of pieces with her, balanced carefully on top of her bowl. Then she took another plate – this one topped with eggs, biscuits, and bacon – in her other hand. This one she left on the coffee table for Allison whenever the girl woke up.

The cereal wasn’t good. The bacon wasn’t either. The coffee was low quality, which was horrible for a hotel of the Marbella’s opulent wealth – someone was cutting corners. Not that she was surprised. A hotel like the Marbella needed to have things running almost like a factory to make sure everything was covered, whereas Luisa’s little inn had time for a more personal touch. The best hotels were able to combine the two, and the Marbella? _Not the best hotel._

It could be, though, if someone took the time to _make it_ one.

Which is how Rose found herself back in the hotel lobby, approaching one Rafael Solano, who _still_ wouldn’t meet her eyes and _still_ kept moving away from her no matter how close she got to him.

“Rafael.”

“I don’t want to talk to you.”

“ _Rafael._ ” It didn’t matter – the repetition of his name – but she said it again anyway, a hiss loud enough for him to pause and finally turn to face her. His eyes were bloodshot. She wondered, briefly, if Rafael had the same drinking problem his sister apparently once had.

“That’s not the best look for greeting your guests.”

“ _What do you want?_ ”

She could smell the alcohol on his breath. “You’re digging your own grave, acting like this. My stepmother will interview the guests, and do you know how many of them will remember that you were _drunk_ —”

“I’m not drunk.”

“Your eyes are bloodshot and you smell like booze. Your customers? Think you’re drunk.”

“I’m not drunk.”

“ _It doesn’t matter what you are. It matters what you are perceived to be_ ,” Rose growled, and it was her stepmother’s voice and her stepmother’s words burned in her throat. She knew better than to punch Rafael the way she might have with Luisa – there was no familiarity here the way there so quickly and easily had been with the other hotel owner – who she was _not_ thinking about – but she took hold of his arm and dragged him to one side anyway. “When is my stepmother getting here?”

“December 24th,” Rafael hissed, and Rose knew that her words had gotten somewhere with him because otherwise he would have spat it in her face. “Why do you care?”

“I came back with you to help you fix this _mistake_ you’ve made—”

“I didn’t ask you to do that—”

“Rafael, you will lose your hotel if I don’t, and you _know it_.” Rose’s voice was still a rough whisper, her hand still tight on his arm as he tried to move away from her. “Don’t lie to me. You know.”

“Because of _you_.”

Rose took a deep breath and glanced upward briefly. “No, Rafael, because you made a mistake and someone finally caught you at it. _Every_ time you sent someone up to your sister, you were taking a risk, regardless whether you knew that or not. It just finally caught up to you.”

Rafael ripped his arm out of Rose’s grip. “Helping my sister was _never_ a mistake.”

“There are better ways to help your sister than screwing over your customers. _Like going up there yourself._ ”

“Don’t you tell me how to help my sister.”

“Fine.” Rose watched Rafael curiously. He hadn’t left yet. That meant, even in his haze, he was at least listening. _Something_ she said got through, even if she didn’t know what. Either that or he was so worried about how he would be able to get everything done before Elena arrived _tomorrow_ that he was desperate. “Do you want my help or not?”

Rafael’s eyes looked her over carefully, but Rose didn’t move. This wasn’t anything perverted or creepy – it was sizing her up. It was a different kind of attempt to intimidate her, and coming from a man of Rafael’s height and appearance, it _should_ have made her stand down.

It didn’t.

“What kind of help are you offering?”

* * *

Mia was curled up in her arms when Luisa woke up the next morning. The previous evening had been particularly rough for the little girl, who’d gone from being excited that her mama and the lady who looked just like her were going to the Christmas Ball together to confused because Rose had disappeared entirely by the time she returned. It was worse because Luisa hadn’t explained anything. She hadn’t known how. Not to a seven-year-old.

Mia burrowed her head into Luisa’s chest as she struggled against waking up, but then her brown eyes fluttered open and focused entirely on Luisa. It took a moment for her to remember where she was – and why she was – and then her lower lip began to tremble again. “Did she come back?” she asked, and when Luisa only shook her head, she looked away and hid her face in Luisa’s neck. “Doesn’t she like us anymore?”

“I don’t know.”

She wasn’t sure there was a way to explain to Mia that it wasn’t necessarily about _liking_ or _not liking_ but that it was far more complicated than that. It’d be easy to tell Mia that _of course_ Rose liked her, but that wasn’t something she could promise. That wouldn’t be fair to her daughter, either.

Not that any of this was really fair to her.

Mia punched a tiny fist into Luisa’s chest. “This is _your_ fault. _You_ made her leave.”

“I didn’t make her do anything,” Luisa said, and she moved back enough so that she could brush Mia’s curls back out of her face. “I’m sorry.”

“She didn’t even say _goodbye_.”

Luisa didn’t want to say that Rose still had to come back for her rental car, since she’d driven Rafael’s back to the Marbella, and she didn’t want to say that Rose had left some of her things in her room. There’d been enough time to go upstairs, to knock on a door that opened easily enough at the knock, and see the rush of leaving, the dishes still left in the sink, waiting for someone to return and clean them. To even mention the possibility of Rose returning – or the certainty of it – would give Mia more hope than Luisa wanted. Just because Rose might – _would_ – come back didn’t mean that she would want anything to do with either of them, and it certainly didn’t mean anything good for her daughter.

So, instead, Luisa just said, “I know,” and followed it with an equally soft, “I’m sorry.”

Mia just sniffled and rubbed her hand across her nose. “What did we _do_?”

“Nothing,” Luisa said, and that was the worst part of it all. “We didn’t do anything.”

* * *

Luisa didn’t force Mia to move from the bed when she got up, and Mia curled up around one of Luisa’s pillows in place of Luisa herself. She’d looked up at her mother with big round eyes and an equally big frown on her face before burrowing beneath the blankets again. To be honest, Luisa knew the feeling. She’d stay that way herself if she didn’t have other things she needed to do.

With Allison gone for the foreseeable future, that was a weight off her back. She didn’t know when the girl would be back – or _if_ she would be back – but whenever it was, hopefully she would have enough outside experience to understand that what they’d had wasn’t all she’d thought it was. The pizza place would get a new delivery person – maybe this one would be a _boy_ instead of a _girl_ , and then maybe she’d avoid the whole _are you getting this much pizza because you like pizza, or are you getting this much pizza because you’re trying to flirt with me_ conversation.

Who was she kidding? A guy would probably act first and think about it later and then be upset when she slapped him in the face, even _with_ everything that had happened in the past few years.

Luisa dragged herself up the stairs to Rose’s hotel room. With the woman gone, she needed to move her things elsewhere, just in case another customer came up before Rose came to collect her stuff. (Who was she kidding? No one was going to come to Longbourne at this time of year unless Rafael sent them. That was the whole point of his indiscretion – to make sure _someone_ came to see her, even if they weren’t there to see _her_.)

She shut the door to Rose’s room behind her and turned to face everything with her hand tight on the doorknob. Her eyes took in the unmade bed, the dishes left in the sink (which is what she should do first, so they didn’t start growing mold), and then, as she finished her sweep, they caught something else: four nutcrackers with cracked paint standing upright on her dresser.

_Shit._

* * *

Rose returned to her room halfway through the day, after spending way too much time trying to convince Rafael that she needed access to more information than he was giving her. He’d told her he needed to consult with the other owner of the hotel and then shoved her off into what _hopefully_ would not turn out to be mass quantities of free time. She rubbed a hand through her red curls, leaning back against her door as it clicked shut.

“Oh, good, you’re back.”

It wasn’t until she heard her voice that Rose remembered that someone else was still sharing the room with her. She looked up to see Allison in the outfit she’d given her before – jeans that were a little too long but rolled up at the bottom, a shirt that hung a little too loosely around her chest, dripping wet hair pulled up in a towel with one curl dangling in her face.

“Yes,” Rose said, the exhaustion clear in her voice. “I’m back.”

“Can you tell me what I’m doing here?” Allison asked, draping herself on the couch that had served as Rose’s bed. She barely leaned up against one of the couch arms, brown eyes not moving from Rose’s face. “If you don’t want me for entertainment purposes, then what _do_ you want?”

“To widen your horizons,” Rose said, moving past her to a small mini-fridge. She pulled out a can without reading the label and popped the tab. “My stepmother has been looking for a replacement for me for years. I think it’ll be good for you.”

“Why should I care what you think is _good for me_?” Allison asked.

Rose passed the soda over to Allison, and the girl hesitated before taking it. “You don’t. _But_ it does give you readymade access to almost anywhere you want to go over the entire world. Elena has strict understanding of the legal issues of hotels in multiple countries, and all she’ll want is for you to find _something_ wrong. It doesn’t matter what.”

“She’d be paying me to snitch.”

Rose’s head tilted back and forth as she poured herself another mug of coffee. “More or less.”

Allison ran one hand along the curve of the sofa. “And you think I’d be good at that?”

“I think you’d be better at it than being a shitty pizza delivery person.”

“ _Hey_.”

But Allison laughed, and while on any other day (or perhaps with any other person) Rose might have thought it to be a pleasant or charming sound, now she only felt heartsick. She downed her mug of lukewarm coffee in almost one gulp before filling it up again.

“Are there a lot of girls at these hotels?” Allison asked, tapping her fingers along her can.

Rose couldn’t help the immediate jaw clench or the way her teeth just grit together. It wasn’t her place to say anything – it wasn’t as though _Luisa_ cared, and it wasn’t as though she was thinking about Luisa (because she wasn’t) – but that Allison could so easily get over a woman she’d supposedly been in love with for four years so quickly didn’t sit well with her. It wasn’t until Rose looked up to see that Allison was staring blankly into her soda can that she realized the question was just a diversion.

Like a rebound, in theory. Not that it made Rose feel any better.

“There are girls _everywhere_ , not just at Longbourne,” Rose said, but her voice was tight. “There are even girls _here_ , if you’d like to get started. I can show you one of the best girl bars in the city later, if Rafael doesn’t keep me too busy.”

“No,” Allison said, fingers tightening on her can. “I think I’d rather go by myself, thank you.”

Rose nodded. “I’ll leave directions for you. There are plenty of people in your same situation – or worse – around this time of year. I’m sure they’d love to meet you.”

“Thanks.” But Allison didn’t sound as if she were grateful at all. There was silence for a moment, then Allison stood, brushing her hands along Rose’s jeans. “I’m going to find a store. Your clothes are nice and all, but—”

“They don’t really fit?” Rose smiled, but there was no mirth in it.

Allison didn’t say anything in reply, just looked down at the can in her hands. “I don’t know why you’re being nice to me.”

“I don’t either,” Rose said with a shrug. “But if I were you, I’d take advantage of it. Don’t know when it’ll happen again.”

“Right.” Allison dropped the empty can in the trash as she exited the room, leaving Rose alone.

Rose let out a sigh. She didn’t know what she’d been thinking, bringing Allison with her, but maybe…. Maybe it was _just_ as bad as she thought it would be. And with her stepmother arriving so close to Christmas, that presented a whole new set of problems. She ran a hand through her tangled mess of curls again and groaned.

Allison didn’t seem too keen on returning to her family for the holiday. Maybe she was just as tired of Longbourne as Rose thought she was. Maybe she just had a bad break-up and wanted to run away for a little while. It wasn’t like she understood _that_ at all; she’d been planning on leaving Heidi regardless, and she wouldn’t admit to having a bad break-up when they’d all been squarely in her hands (except for the aforementioned redhead, and her greatest annoyance with _that_ was that she’d been broken up with first. Poor planning on Heidi’s end, honestly).

She collapsed onto the couch. Now that Allison had vacated the premises, she could pull out her gray cardboard box. It wasn’t as though the girl hadn’t been able to notice it while they were traveling, but she’d seemed to be so in her own thoughts that it hadn’t crossed her mind. Rose had hidden it while she was asleep so she didn’t have to worry about curiosity or wandering eyes when she wasn’t in the room.

Her fingers traced the cardboard before popping the lid – and it was then that she realized what she’d forgotten.

* * *

Luisa let out another breath while she stood at her front counter, fingers curling into the loosely wound cable. “C’mon, Raf.”

No answer, just the mandatory answering machine message.

By now, she must have called something close to twenty times with no answer, and at this point, it looked like Rafael was either avoiding her calls or _really busy_. Given the season, she expected the latter more than the former, but considering everything that happened at the ball, she couldn’t assume that he wasn’t avoiding her. Not that she was planning on chiding him any more than she already had. He was dealing with the consequences the way their family always did – _hide_.

“Rafael, it is your _sister_ and this is _important_. You’re obviously super busy with Christmas at the Marbella, but if you could make time to answer your phone or call me back, it would be _great_. I need to talk with you about something.”

Well, she needed to talk to _Rose_ about something, but she didn’t—

Wait.

The phone dropped into its cradle with a clang as Luisa moved to her not _quite_ impeccable hotel record keeping. Rose had left her phone number on one of these sheets. She just had to find it.

* * *

The worst part about waiting for Rafael – and there was _a lot_ of waiting for Rafael – was that Rose knew she needed to stay in one place. He’d accepted her help, and he knew she was in her room, and if he was going to come to her, _he was going to come to her_. So it was a bad decision to _leave_ the room (although if she ordered room service, she was going to make him pay for it), but sitting here, knowing that she needed to get in touch with Luisa, knowing that Rafael had her number, and knowing there was _nothing she could do_ to make the time go faster was **infuriating**.

There were hours of emptiness after Allison left, just sitting and waiting for _something_ , waiting for a knock at her door – but it wasn’t that which broke the constant boredom. Instead, it was her phone, buzzing and buzzing where she’d left it on the coffee table. She grabbed it – _Unknown Number_ – but answered it anyway.

Maybe Rafael decided to _call_ instead of _knock on the door_. That would be the power play, wouldn’t it, to make her come and meet him somewhere more on his turf than to come to her hotel room – which, arguably, was still _his_ turf, just the little part of it that could be considered hers for the time being.

“Rose Clement speaking.”

“Rose.”

She knew that voice.

On the other end, Luisa’s voice was haggard, out of breath. Rose wondered briefly what the rush was.

“Rose?” Luisa repeated.

Rose realized she hadn’t said anything at all yet. “Luisa. Is something wrong?”

“You didn’t take all of your…all of your things.”

“No, no, I know that.” Rose leaned back on the couch, running one hand through her hair. “You sound out of breath.”

“Yeah, I was just… I was looking for your number, and I have all these papers and didn’t have them very organized and I ran—” Luisa gave a little chuckle on the other end of the phone, and Rose could imagine her leaning forward with a hand on her forehead and that little smile of hers. “Well, I didn’t _run_ , but I was trying to make sure I got your number in right, and I got it wrong, and—” She took a deep breath. Rose could see her grinning. “I got you.”

“You got me.”

Rose couldn’t help but smile at the other woman’s enthusiasm. All of a sudden, she began to relax, fingers curling through the corkscrews of her hair then pushing it out of the way. “What did you need?”

“Your nutcrackers.”

And just as quickly as she’d relaxed, Rose could feel herself growing tense again.

“I didn’t know what you wanted me to do with the things you left behind. I’d normally pack them up and have them hidden somewhere in case a customer came up, and that’s what I would have done with your clothes, but I figured—”

“You didn’t think I’d want them to be moved?” Rose asked, completing Luisa’s sentence even as the other woman said the same thing.

“Yeah. Exactly.”

It was easy to see Luisa standing there in her untidy little ponytail with an exasperated look on her face, probably getting her finger stuck in her phone cable. Rose wondered if Mia was running around outside or at someone else’s house again. She doubted that Luisa would be able to be on the phone this long without Mia tugging on her arm or trying to see who she was talking to, and she was equally certain that if Mia knew Luisa was talking with her she would _demand_ to talk to her, too.

“You can…. You can put them up, too. Do whatever you want with them.”

Her throat tightened.

“Are you sure?” Luisa asked, and her voice was so soft her phone almost didn’t pick it up.

“Yeah, of course.” Rose waved one hand in the air, as if Luisa could see her. “I let Mia play with them, didn’t I?”

She was certain Luisa was nodding on the other side, that had to be the hesitation, followed by the quick little, “Oh! Sorry, I forgot you can’t see me!” which would be accompanied by that sheepish grin of hers, and Rose would have laughed if she weren’t so tense.

“I know you did, but you were there the entire time. Now….” Luisa’s voice faded away.

“You won’t let anything happen to them,” Rose said, her voice soft, “will you?”

“Of course not,” Luisa said. “I know how much they mean to you.”

There was silence on the phone then, and before she knew what she was doing, Rose heard herself ask, “How’s Mia?”

“She wants to know why you left without saying good-bye.” Luisa’s voice was soft again. “She’s curled up in bed with one of my pillows and a plate of your leftover pizza.”

“I can’t believe she’s eating that junk.”

“Hey, we _like_ that junk, thank you very much.”

Rose laughed easy enough. She hadn’t forgotten about the awkward sense of the nutcracker conversation or the lengthy pause, but talking about this was significantly easier. She began to trace a circle on the sofa with the pad of one finger. “She’ll get over my not being there. I was going to leave anyway, right?”

“Right. It’s just hard, since you didn’t say good-bye and she didn’t _know_ you were leaving.”

“Well, I’ll have to come back for my nutcrackers. I can say good-bye then.”

“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”

Rose’s face fell. “Oh.”

“I wouldn’t want her to get all worked up and excited that you were coming back only for you to just leave on her again. That’s not really fair to her.”

“Yes. Of course. You’re right.” Rose continued to trace circles on the couch next to her. “But at least I’ll get to see—”

There was a sudden loud knocking on her door, and Rose jumped before realizing who it likely was. “Look, Luisa, I have to go. I’m supposed to be helping your brother—”

“ _No, no, you stay on the line with me if he’s there._ ”

Rose blinked at how fierce Luisa’s voice was. She scooted off the sofa, pushing her hair back out of her face with one hand. “Is something wrong?”

“He’s been ignoring my calls, and I want to give him a piece of my mind.”

“Uh-huh.” Rose shuffled over to the door to her hotel room, and when she saw Rafael on the other end, she held up one finger. She almost smiled at the expression on his face when she did so. “You know what?” she said, voice calm. “Here. You talk to him.” Then she held her cell phone out to Rafael with a grin. “Your sister would like to talk to you.”

Rafael’s face contorted into an even deeper scowl as he took the phone from Rose’s hands and shoved past her into the hotel room, the door shutting a little too loudly behind him. “Lu, I’m a little busy.”

Rose walked past him, crossing her arms, and watched as his face fell. Rafael’s eyes glanced up to the ceiling with a deep sigh, and he crossed his arms much the same way as Rose’s were. She could hear Luisa on the other end of the phone – she couldn’t make out everything the other woman was saying, but she could tell when she switched from English into what she was certain was Spanish and a _bit_ of Italian – a wild flurry of frustrated languages all ranting at the man in front of her who was growing more exasperated by the minute – and he’d already been in a bad mood.

 _And drunk_ , despite what he wanted people to believe.

“Lu.” His teeth gritted together, and his voice was tense as he continued. “I’m a little busy. Can I call you back? From my own phone?”

There was silence, and Rose could feel the weight of Luisa’s stare even the many, many miles away. Then Rafael passed her the phone again. “She wants to talk to you.”

Rose placed the phone against her ear. “Luisa?”

“You will _make sure_ my brother is _on the phone with me_ before you leave him, or I will burn every single one of these nutcrackers.”

Now _Rose’s_ teeth were gritting together as her jaw clenched so tight she thought it might snap. “Luisa, if you want me to help your brother fix the fucked up mess he’s made of his hotel, then you would do best not to threaten me.” Her voice came out a low growl. “Got it?”

“Sorry, sorry,” Luisa said, automatic. “I’m not trying to take this out on you, I’m really not, and I would never—”

“Luisa, I already have to deal with your drunkard brother—”

“ _I’m not drunk!_ ”

“—I don’t want to have to deal with whatever’s going on between you two, too.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone, then, finally, Luisa’s voice, very soft, “Rafael’s drunk?”

“He says he’s not.”

“ _I’m not._ ”

“But he’s obviously been drinking since early this morning. His eyes are all bloodshot.”

There was another, longer hesitation on the other side of the phone, and Rose was certain Luisa was biting her lower lip. It took even longer for Rose to say, her voice soft, “Luisa?”

“I’m coming down there. I’m bringing your car. Where did you leave the keys?”

“On the bedside table, but—”

“Don’t tell Rafael.”

There was a click as the phone call ended, and Rose took a deep breath as she shoved the phone into her back pocket. Her eyes lifted to meet Rafael’s. “So what did the other owner say?”

“She wants to meet you personally.”

“Meet me _personally_?” Rose asked, her brows furrowed. “Does she not normally involve herself in the workings of the hotel?”

“She does,” Rafael said with a frown. “And she is _just_ as upset with my _indiscretions_ as you and my sister are.”

“Oh?” Now Rose’s brows raised, and she grinned. “Then, by all means, take me to meet this wonderful co-owner of yours.”

* * *

“Mia. Time to get up.”

The redhead curled tighter into her mother’s pillow and shook her head. “No. I don’t want to get up.”

Luisa let out a sigh. “I need you to pack.”

“Pack?” Mia sat up immediately, brown eyes staring straight at her mother. “It’s Christmas! We’re always here at Christmas! Where are we going?”

“We’re going to see Uncle Rafael and Aunt Petra.”

“And Anna and Ellie?” Mia bounced her hands on the bed. “Do we have presents for them?”

Luisa stood in front of her dresser and blinked a couple of times. “We already sent them their presents, so they should have them when we get there.”

Mia scrambled out of bed. “And they have presents for me?”

Luisa turned to her daughter with a grin. “Do you just want to see them for more presents?”

“No.” Mia frowned. “But it’s always nice to get more presents.”

Luisa reached over and patted her daughter’s back. “Go get packed. We need to get going just as soon as you’re ready.”

Mia nodded and scampered off.

Luisa stood in front of her dresser for a few moments, taking a deep breath, and then bent low to her bottom drawer. She reached back to the very back, behind everything, and found a small package still wrapped hiding there. She tightened her hand on it briefly, then packed it in the very bottom of her suitcase.

Maybe this year. She would be with family. That would certainly make it easier. She hadn’t wanted to open it alone.

* * *

Rafael led Rose to one of the Marbella’s upper floors. Not the offices – which surprised her, considering the situation – but to a conference room, which was even more surprising, considering there were only three of them: Rose, Rafael, and whoever this _other owner_ ended up being. He held open one of the doors to their specific conference room, and Rose didn’t thank him as she walked briskly inside. Immediately, she took in her surroundings – the long, oval shaped table, an attempt to still be round without truly being equal; the magazine covers blown up and hung one next to the other across the opposite wall, each of them decrying an award the Marbella had won, some of them with Rafael’s face on them; the chairs that were a slightly higher quality than the ones she might see in conference rooms in schools around the nation, which really only meant they were slightly more comfortable than whoever might be sitting in them at any given moment. The opposite wall was still that bright, tropical blue, since it could be seen through the room’s windows, but the rest of the walls were a much safer white.

It was then that she let her eyes rest on the figure on the other end of the room: a woman with short blonde hair dressed all in white – like Rose might, if she were visiting one of Elena’s islands in the Caymans (her stepmother was wealthy, and she spent that wealth accordingly), not like a woman on her wedding. As she walked closer, she caught sight of the manila folders set on the table in front of her and, more importantly, met the woman’s eyes – not a cold, paralyzing blue or a warm, effervescent one but something much more carefully neutral, one that could go either way all depending on their interaction. Rose knew her own eyes were neither of those, and there was a sharp spike of immediate envy that just as quickly disappeared.

Instead of sitting on one of the chairs along the table, an action that would mark the other woman as her superior, Rose instead leaned against and then slid firmly onto one edge of the table. This didn’t make her an equal – there was nowhere she could sit that would have that effect – but it did give the immediate realization that she would not be cowed under this woman’s presence just as she would not under the muscular imposing height of the drunk man behind her.

“Rose Clement,” she said, holding out one hand for the other woman – a formal gesture.

“Petra Solano,” the blonde woman said, taking Rose’s hand in a firm shake.

 _Solano._ Luisa had mentioned a _Petra_ and _kids_ – this woman had to be Rafael’s wife. Of course. Businesses like these ran in families. She wondered, briefly, if they were in love or if they were a match made by Luisa’s hotel conglomerate father and another wealthy family. Elena had tried that often enough with her that it was easy to suspect, easier still to believe, but the woman shaking her hand didn’t seem like the sort who would settle for someone like Rafael Solano.

Rose took her hand back and offered the other woman a smile. “Why did you want to meet me?”

“My husband and I confer on all points of business with an outside source.”

A little smile crept to the edges of Rose’s lips. Already she liked this woman much more than her husband. She, at least, seemed to have some idea of what she was doing. “And does that include sending some of your customers up to Longbourne?”

Something dark flashed across Petra’s eyes, but her gaze didn’t leave Rose, didn’t so much as flicker to the man behind them. “Rafael did not alert me to any such customers. If he had, I would have suggested alternate measures to deal with their discomfort.”

“Particularly housing them in one of the empty hotel rooms, given that you aren’t actually overbooked.”

“Yes.”

Rose leaned forward just the slightest bit, so that her eyes were more on level with Petra’s. “Can I speak with you privately?”

“I don’t know why you can’t say anything that my co-owner can’t hear.”

“Your co-owner is drunk.”

 _Then_ Petra’s eyes flicked away from her, looking over at Rafael, who Rose knew was gritting his teeth or making some sort of angry or frustrated expression.

Rose tilted her head to one side. “Even if he _isn’t_ drunk, he’s been drinking. You can see it in his eyes, and your customers can smell it on him. It may not impact his behavior with them, but it certainly impacts their view both of him and of this hotel. I would suggest relieving him of his floor duties until he can get his behavior under his control. I _certainly_ would feel better about this meeting without him. I can’t trust that he won’t react—”

There was the pounding of a fist on the table behind her.

“—like that.” Rose didn’t look behind her. “Your husband is emotionally compromised. I trust _you_ won’t be.”

“And you aren’t?” Petra asked, one brow raising.

But the question was a hypothetical one. As Rose’s lips pressed together, her jaw tightening the littlest bit, Petra nodded towards Rafael. “She’s right.”

“Petra—”

“Rafael, if you wanted to be part of this conversation, you wouldn’t be slipping. Go watch the girls. They’ll be happy to see you.”

 _Girls_ – and Rose wondered, briefly, if all of the cousins were around the same age. She’d only had the one cousin, but they weren’t close enough for her to get to know her all that well. At least Mia and these kids lived near each other. That should count for something.

Rafael stormed out of the conference room – Rose didn’t watch, but she could hear the stamping in his feet, the door shutting behind him a little louder than it did before even if it wasn’t being slammed – there was some restraint to his anger, and for that she was grateful. He _did_ know something of being a good hotel owner. It just seemed to slip his mind around the holidays.

—or because of his sister.

—who Rose wasn’t thinking about.

“Now, let’s cut the formalities,” Rose said, fingers drumming on the table next to her. “I’m not here on business, and I don’t want you to _treat me_ like business. I just want to get you out of the mess your husband made.”

“You sound just like Elena.”

Rose’s brows lifted. “You’ve met her.”

“Once,” Petra admitted, leaning back in her chair. “She gave a guest lecture when I was in college. All business until afterwards. Most of us were too scared to talk to her. _Cut the formalities_ , she said, and drank with the rest of us with a smile on her face.” She looked up, meeting Rose’s eyes. “And then had half of us arrested for underage drinking and got out without any stain on her own record.”

Rose grinned. “Sounds about right. Can you _imagine_ what it must be like to have that woman as a mother?”

“No,” Petra said, “but I’m sure _you_ can.”

“He told you.”

Petra rolled her eyes. “I did my own research.” She opened the first of the manila folders on the table. Inside were pictures of Elena with a young girl. They were in front of multiple different hotels – each picture was another one – and both of them were smiling, giving the appearance of something approaching happiness. Printed beneath each of the photos was _Elena di Nola and her daughter, Clara Ruvelle_ in fine type.

“You’re missing some of them,” Rose said, lips curving into a wistful smile. “There should be a baby in this one,” she tapped a nail on one of the pictures, “and a little boy in this one.” She tapped another. “The ones after this it should just be the two of them.”

“You’ve changed your name since then,” Petra pointed out.

Rose nodded. “I also grew up. Dyed my hair.” She laughed. “ _Stopped_ dying it, in this case.” She tapped the stack of photos again and looked up. “So you did your research. What of it?”

“That’s how you infiltrated the other hotels.” Petra leaned forward. “Did she send you here?”

“I haven’t worked for Elena in three years.”

“But you called her now.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Rose tilted her head to one side and offered the blonde a mirthless smile. “Are you investigating me, Mrs. Solano?”

The blonde raised one eyebrow and sat back in her chair crossing her arms. “Do you need to be investigated?”

“No,” Rose said with an amused huff. “But you can keep going if you want. I don’t have anything to hide.”

“Then why did you call your mother?”

“Stepmother.” The correction came a little more bitterly than Rose intended, snappish, and she smiled, even though she knew that it looked a little bit more like she was baring her teeth. “If you _must_ reference our relationship, do it right.” When Petra didn’t reply but instead nodded once at the correction, Rose let out a sigh. “It’s Christmas. I was on edge. The holidays are a horrible time to be kicked out of your hotel and sent somewhere else.”

“And?”

“And what?” Rose asked, crossing her arms. “That’s all there was to it.”

“Rafael mentioned you were on a date with his sister when he got there.”

“I was bored, and this doesn’t help fix things before Elena gets here.”

“It helps me understand if you are actually here to help us or if you’re—”

“—still working for Elena?” Rose smiled. “It’s one thing to overbook and throw work onto another hotel. It’s another thing to be a misguided older brother trying to get his sister laid.” She tilted her head to one side. “Rafael is guilty of one of those things, but not both, and it’s _not_ the one Elena should be called to deal with.” Then she leaned back on one palm. “Honestly, if he’d been _honest_ with me, this wouldn’t be an issue at all.”

“It wouldn’t?” Petra asked, her brow raising again.

“No, it wouldn’t.” Rose leaned back a little more, grinning. “His sister’s cute. If someone took care of the kid long enough, he wouldn’t have anything to worry about.”

Petra made a soft _hm_ sound. Her eyes took Rose in once more, and then she relaxed. “Here,” she said, passing Rose the other manila folder. “The records of every unhappy customer who we turned away with those involved with Rafael’s Christmas plot highlighted in yellow.”

“Have any of them called with a formal complaint?”

“If they have, I haven’t heard of it.”

“Call them ahead of—”

“I’ve already done that,” Petra said, voice low. “I called them shortly after we turned them away and again a few months later to make sure they were satisfied with their return. Most of them I gave another call this morning, if it didn’t seem too far off from their first meeting.” Her lips spread in a smug smile, and she held up a recorder. “I have all of their responses here.”

“You’re good,” Rose said, and she couldn’t stop the hint of surprise in her voice.

“The best.”

“And you work behind the scenes.”

“To take care of my girls, I took a step back.” Petra nodded to one of the magazine covers, where she and Rafael were both on display. It was an older cover; the date indicated it was almost four years ago. “Once they start school in the fall, I plan on stepping back in the front. _Sooner_ , if this looks bad for Rafael. He can stay back with the girls. It’ll be good for him.”

In Rose’s opinion, it was the best thing that could happen for him. Rafael could stand to be taken down a peg, in her opinion. Even if his motives were good, the way he was treating her for calling him out and the way he was reacting now weren’t healthy. She continued to look through the folder Petra had provided and then looked up. “Do you mind if I take some time with this? You’ve already started on damage control, and that’s perfect for your case—”

Petra slid another folder across the table. “Any other information you might want to know about our hotel and possible _problems_ over the past few years, you will find in here.”

“You’re thorough,” Rose said, brows lifting.

“When Elena di Nola decides to investigate your hotel, you don’t really have an option to do otherwise, do you?”

“No, you don’t.” Rose looked up and offered what she _hoped_ was a calming smile. She drummed her fingers on the table again. “And you will, of course, give me leave to speak with your employees to make sure that none of _them_ have any discomfort with you or Rafael or the way things are run here.”

“Of course.” Petra didn’t smile. “And you’ll let me know what you find.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“You’ll let me know what you’re offering people before I agree to it.”

Rose smiled. “You’ll agree to it, or my stepmother will tear your hotel apart. These issues are always about who can satisfy the disgruntled party more. I’m sure you understand that. Your problem is simply addressing it – and _recording it_ with one of your devices – before she gets here.” She let out a breath. “Does anyone else know that she’s coming?”

“No.”

“Good. Don’t let anyone else know. I’m just here on a regular check-up. Not even that.” Rose closed the manila folders and placed them together. Then she took out her phone and passed it to Petra. “Your number, so I can reach you with any new information.”

Petra entered her number and passed Rose her phone back. “You shouldn’t find anything.”

“We always find something. You can’t know everything.” Rose pressed her lips together and then moved her hand over the pictures of her with Elena. “Do you mind? I don’t want these where anyone can see them.”

Petra gave a sharp nod, and Rose took the photos, holding them with the other folders. Then, saying nothing else, she left.

* * *

Luisa pulled into the Marbella’s parking lot just as the sun was beginning to lower over the horizon. She hated being in Miami near Christmas – not because she hated the obvious tourism or leaving her own hotel, regardless of whether there were likely any customers or not, but because at Christmas, everything should be covered with snow. There should be pine trees, not palm trees. No sand, no beach. And maybe this was a repercussion of her childhood and not having seasons segmented out so that every holiday flowed together into one unending long day broken with fireworks and presents, or maybe it was just wanting Mia to know the seasons the way her mother had.

It was Carla, after all, who taught Luisa to love spring – more than just spring break, but the colors finally returning, the flowers slowly picking their petals to bloom – to love autumn – more than just seeing each other when school began again, but the crisp taste of apples in the air, the trees slowly dying until their limbs were nothing more than bones ripping at a grey sky – and, most of all, to love winter – more than just the cold that sank into her skin and made her feel like she would never get warm again, but the creation of snow angels and men, the crackling of a fireplace and the warmth of hot chocolate so beautiful that it melted on the tip of her tongue.

Mia needed to know the seasons of the mother who was no longer there just as much as she needed to know the beaches of the mother who still was.

Her daughter was curled up in the passenger seat. The back was laid flat, and she had her pillow under her curls, her little fox plushie with the black-tipped feet held tight in her arms. One of her tiny thumbs was stuck in her mouth, stopping up the drool Luisa knew would be there otherwise.

When the car was parked, Luisa reached over and brushed a hand through Mia’s curls. “Mia.”

“ _Mmmmm._ ” Mia curled up a little bit tighter. Then her head turned, eyes fluttering open, and, bleary, she looked up. “I don’t need to potty.”

“No, no,” Luisa said with a little chuckle. “We’re here. It’s time to go in.”

Mia’s eyes narrowed. “Can I stay out here?”

“ _No._ ” Luisa ran her hand through Mia’s curls again, brushing them out of her face. “But I can carry you, if you want.”

Mia nodded once, eyes slowly blinking shut again, and Luisa moved from the car and over to Mia’s side to pick her up. Mia clung to her, wrapping her arms around her neck, and buried her head in her shoulder, holding tight to her little fox plush with one hand. Luisa locked the car as she walked away and tried calling Rafael for what felt like the millionth time as she walked into the hotel.

No answer.

 _Still_ no answer.

Rafael had been actively avoiding all of her calls – he’d already been ignoring them before she’d talked to him through Rose’s phone, but now it seemed like his phone was off. Either that or he was very intentionally shutting her calls down without letting them ring. Her lips pressed together, and she shoved her phone into her back pocket.

Her eyes scanned the front counter – sure, someone was there, and they probably knew who she was, but it was more important that she find her brother. She pulled her phone back out and started to dial Petra’s number when she noticed a certain redhead holding a clipboard in one hand and a pencil with the other, making a note of some sort.

“Rose,” Luisa said, and she made her way over to her.

At the mention of the other woman, Mia sat up a little straighter, head turning so that she could see her. Luisa saw Rose notice first her and then Mia, and when Rose saw Mia, she gave her a big smile and came immediately over. Her eyes flicked to Luisa’s first and held them as she came over, and Luisa gave her a little nod as she moved her arms a little bit – Mia wasn’t _heavy_ , but she could feel like it sometimes.

“Hey, Mia,” Rose said, running a hand through Mia’s curls. “Long time, no see.”

“What’re you doing here?” Mia asked. “You’re supposed to be _gone_.” She stifled a yawn with one hand.

“Well, your Aunt Petra,” and here Rose looked up and briefly met Luisa’s eyes again, “asked me to help her with some problems here at the Marbella, and I agreed to help.”

Luisa gave her a firm little nod.

“What sort of problems?”

Rose gave a sort of scowl, her lips all bunched together on one side, and she knelt down just enough so that she was on eye level with Mia. “Have you ever had a fight with someone at school? Or with one of your friends?”

Mia nodded once, her chin butting against Luisa’s shoulder. “Oh, yeah! Tons of times!” She held up her fox plushie. “Tony and I have fights all the time!”

“And have you ever asked someone else to help you become friends with Tony again?”

Mia’s brows furrowed. “Not with Tony. But with some of the kids at school.”

“Well, it’s kind of like that,” Rose explained. “Your aunt’s not in any trouble, but she wanted me to make sure that everyone here isn’t fighting with anyone and that everyone’s getting along.”

“Oh.” Mia nodded once. “That makes sense. And you were going to come back for your stuff afterwards because you weren’t really _leaving_ leaving yet.”

Rose hesitated – Luisa could see it, the pause in her eyes as they flicked over to her again – and she patted Mia’s back once. “It’s high time that _you_ go to sleep, little miss.”

And it was a sure indicator that she was _right_ when Mia only yawned and nodded again.

Luisa turned to fully face Rose. “Do you know where my brother is? I need to see him.”

“Last I heard, Petra sent him to watch the girls.” Rose nodded towards Mia. “Here, you go find him, and I can take her. He’s shoved Allison and I into the same room – one bed, but I took the couch – so it’s _small_ , but I can watch her while you give him….” Her eyes moved to Mia again and then she looked back to Luisa with a smile. “Well, you’ll talk to him.”

“He stuck you in a single bed room with Allison?” Luisa asked, brows raising, and then just as quickly her expression soured. “That jerk.”

“He was a little drunk.”

Luisa looked up, meeting Rose’s eyes. “He’s a jerk. Don’t defend my brother – I know him better than you do.” She pressed her lips together. “You can share my suite. We have a second room with another bed – normally that’s Mia’s, but you can use it.” Her head tilted to one side before she began walking over to the counter. “C’mon. I’ll give you the key and then you two can go straight up.”

“I’m not sure that’s the best—”

“Look, you may not be my customer anymore, but let me be a better hostess than my brother.”

Rose chuckled. “You’re _already_ a better hostess than your brother. I’m just worried that—”

“What?” Luisa asked, and she stopped just before reaching the counter, her eyes focusing on Rose. “Mia and I can share a room and you have your own and you don’t have to sleep on a couch anymore. You don’t have anything to worry about.” She shuffled Mia over. “You sure you can hold her?”

Rose nodded. “I’m ten years older than my baby brother. _Trust me_ , I’ve got this.”

Luisa carefully handed Mia over, and Mia wrapped her arms tightly around Rose’s neck. Then Luisa turned to the counter and knocked on it once. “I’m Luisa Alver. I should have a suite.”

The man behind the counter gave her a once over and nodded, and after a short while – including letting him examine her ID to make sure she was exactly who she said she was – he handed the room keys over to her. Luisa handed one to Rose along with the keys to her rental car. “Take Mia upstairs and put her to bed. Then get your stuff moved. I’ll call you when I’m done with Raf, and then I’ll help you carry everything inside.”

“I can get everything out of the car, Lu,” Rose said, her voice soft. “It’s the least I can do, since you _did_ take _such_ good care of me in Longbourne.”

Luisa’s eyes narrowed at Rose’s words – at the implied joke – and her mouth opened so that she could make a rebuttal until she realized, “Wait, did you just call me _Lu_?”

Rose’s face froze and she blinked once. “No, babe, I didn’t call you any—”

“And _babe_?” Luisa’s eyes widened. “Are you—”

“I’m not doing _anything_ , Luisa, I just—”

“ _Luisa._ ”

Petra appeared as though from nowhere in her white dress, her expression unreadable. Luisa was a little jealous of this ability; it was one of her many failings as a hotel owner – her expression was too easy, too familiar. She couldn’t control her emotions or keep them from showing on her face, and it let people see what she was feeling all too well.

But, then, it made her personable. That was a good thing, right?

“Petra, hi.” Luisa gave Rose a little shove, but Rose stayed in place. “I heard Raf was drinking pretty heavily, and he was drinking when he came up to see me, and I thought, you know, it’d be good for me to come see him.” She offered Petra a warm smile as she clasped her hands together in front of her. “Do you know where he is? I’d like to talk to him.”

“Look, I’m going to get Mia up to bed. You don’t need me here, do you?” Rose asked, her eyes moving to Petra.

Petra shook her head. “No. I’ll come by later to discuss things with you.”

“Ah,” Rose said, with a little grin, “I’ll be moving rooms. Your husband stuck my friend and I in a one bed room, and Luisa kindly offered to let me share her extra room. So if you need me—” She followed with a little shrug and a grin that disappeared almost as soon as Luisa turned to her again.

“Right.” Petra gave her a nod, and Rose turned and walked off. “And you,” she said, looking at Luisa, “are looking for your brother. Let’s go. I need to talk to him myself.”

* * *

Now – there were a lot of things Rose was, but _dumb_ was not one of them (most of the time). Sure, Luisa had said it would be okay for her to leave a sleeping Mia in the suite by herself, but Rose had no intention of doing that. She could go back to her shared room with Allison after Luisa made it back to the suite and get her things or help Luisa unpack the car then, but her extended time babysitting her little brother so many years ago told her that as soon as she left Mia by herself – no matter _how_ exhausted she was – something horrible would happen. Children were just like that.

So it was with this in mind that she pushed the key card into its spot, waited for the light to turn green, and then entered the suite that appeared to belong to Luisa.

Rose stopped just inside the doorway, not moving again until the door clicked shut. Anyone else might be shocked, but for someone who had spent so much time with her stepmother moving from one hotel to another, and then so much time for her job going to even more hotels, and then so much time with her touring yodeler ex-girlfriend in _even more_ hotels—

Well, suffice to say that Rose wasn’t overwhelmed by the appearance of Luisa’s suite. It looked like any of the other rooms in the Marbella, if her own was anything to go by, but _larger_ and with a little kitchenette and a bar to one side. There were two doors off of the main lounge area – one, she knew, would lead to Luisa’s room, and one would lead to Mia’s. She shifted her hold on Mia just the slightest bit, but the girl didn’t make a sound. It was likely she’d fallen back asleep while they’d made their way up; Mia’s tight hold around her neck had loosened as Rose stood in the elevator, waiting for them to reach not the _top_ floor but close to it.

Rose carried the girl to the first of the two rooms and pushed the door open with one foot. It was the smaller of the two rooms – the one she expected normally belonged to Mia – so she let the door swing shut and moved to the other instead. This one was much larger, with a much bigger bed, but otherwise appeared much the same. It was to this bed that Rose carried the little girl in her arms, slowly pulling the sheets and the comforter back and placing the little girl on the bed.

All at once, Mia’s face scrunched up and she opened her deep brown eyes. “Where’s Momma?”

“She’s talking with your uncle right now. She told me to take care of you.”

“But _I_ wanna see Uncle Raf,” Mia said, but her tiredness crept into her voice, stealing her normal enthusiasm. Instead, her face contorted into a pout. “Why can’t I see him? Or Ellie or Anna?”

Rose didn’t know those names, but she guessed they belonged to Mia’s cousins – to Rafael and Petra’s daughters. “You need to get some sleep,” she said, laying across the bed and facing Mia. “You can see them tomorrow.”

“But _they’re_ awake!” This time, Mia’s voice had a little more strength to it, and she held her little fox plushie closer to her. “And I’m _older_ than they are, so I should be awake, too!”

“I don’t think they’re awake, kid. I think they’re already asleep. Your mom isn’t talking to them, just to your uncle, and then she’ll be right back. And,” Rose continued, holding up one finger before Mia could interrupt her, “until she gets back, you have me. Isn’t that a good thing?”

“I guess,” Mia said, crossing her arms, the pout still on her face. She slumped back against her pillow. “Do you know any good bedtime stories?”

“No,” Rose started to say, then, as she thought on it, her eyes lit up. “Well,” she continued, “there is _one_ that my mother used to tell me when I was very little.” It was one she hadn’t been able to share with Derek – partly because she hadn’t ever really wanted to include him in that memory of her mother and partly because she was certain if Elena ever heard her begin to tell it, she would be upset with her. There likely would have been consequences. For Derek, it wasn’t worth the risk.

But there was no risk here, now, with Mia.

“What was it?” Mia asked, pulling the fox against her chest, her brown eyes wide and twinkling with excitement. “Tell me!”

“Alright,” Rose said, “but you have to listen very carefully, and you have to go to sleep when I’m done.” If she didn’t fall asleep while she told her the story.

Mia nodded quickly, but not as quickly as she normally did. She sighed and relaxed, waiting expectantly.

“Once upon a time,” Rose began, and she reached across, brushing one of Mia’s curls out of her face, “there lived a little girl named,” and here she paused, reaching for a name to replace the one she knew best, and then she grinned, “Mia.”

“Like me!”

“Like you.” Rose poked Mia’s stomach, and the little girl giggled. Then Rose relaxed, trying to remember it as best she could. “She lived in a big house with her mother and father, and for the first few years of her life, everything seemed happy. Her mother and father—”

“Her mother and mother!” Mia exclaimed, and then she flushed a bright red. “I’m sorry. For correcting you. Please don’t stop the story.”

“No, no, you’re right,” Rose said. “I was wrong. She lived in a house with both of her mothers, and both of her mothers loved her very much, and she loved them, and they all loved each other.”

“Just like my family.” Mia smiled warmly, eyes fluttering.

“Then,” Rose continued, “one day, one of her mothers disappeared….”

* * *

Luisa stood outside of Rafael’s suite, the key card in her hands. Petra had gone in ahead of her to make sure the girls were already put to bed and asleep, to make sure they weren’t around to hear what they discussed, and Luisa’d decided to wait outside of the room for a few minutes, to give them time to discuss whatever it was Petra needed to discuss with him.

She suspected it had to do with the customers Rafael had been sending to her. Most of them, to her knowledge, hadn’t been exactly _happy_ with the upheaval, but none of them had been too terribly angry. They’d adjusted, and she’d taken good care of them just like she took care of all her customers. If anything, they’d gotten to live the sort of Christmas so many of them watched on television during the holiday season – went to a small town, got to take part in the small town festivities, and so on and so forth.

And some of them…some of them had been a nice break from Allison while Mia was away. Not all of them – certainly no one from the family who had visited last year because she wasn’t the sort to break up a happy family – but in those early years, especially right after Carla’d gone and she’d needed something, _someone_ , just to remember that she could exist apart from her wife – someone who would come and then go and wouldn’t have the opportunity to rip her heart out or even so much as scratch it. If anything, the family had hurt more than any of the others because it was a stark reminder of what she and Carla once had and _should have_ had if that drunk driver hadn’t—

No, she wasn’t thinking about that. She wasn’t blaming him. It was done and gone and Carla—

Luisa used the key card, waited for the green light, and pushed the door open. Petra seemed to have disappeared – maybe she was back in the back with the girls, maybe she’d finished her conversation with Rafael, maybe she’d decided to postpone it until later. The only thing she could see was her brother at the counter to his little kitchenette, a shot glass in front of him and a bottle just beside. He barely looked up as the door shut behind her, and she could see his jaw working as he turned away.

“You shouldn’t be here, Luisa.”

“You’re drinking again, Raf. I couldn’t just stay locked up in my tower.” Luisa approached the counter and sat down carefully next to him. She placed a hand on his back and rubbed it gently. “Are you ok?”

“What do you think?”

His voice was harsh. It always was when he was like this. Luisa knew better than to take it personally, and yet it still hurt her heart. “Raf. We’re going to get through this.”

“You mean _you’re_ going to get through this,” he growled. “Elena isn’t coming to check _your_ hotel. Just mine.”

“Do you want her to check Longbourne?” Luisa asked, her voice soft and not even the slightest bit bitter. “If you do, I’ll ask her to come up. I don’t have anything to worry about.”

“Of course _you_ don’t.” Raf downed his shot and poured another. He glanced over to her for a second and sighed. “You were always better at everything.”

“This isn’t about being _better_ , Raf. This is about—”

“This is about me being a brother and getting attacked for it.”

“I _told_ you not to—”

“I have had _enough_ ‘I told you so’ lectures from Dad; I _don’t_ need to hear them from you!” Raf slammed the shot glass down so hard that Luisa jumped – not because she believed he would hurt her, because her brother couldn’t hurt a fly (literally – he was absolute rubbish with a fly swatter), but because she hadn’t expected the action.

Luisa took a deep breath. “I’m not trying to give you a lecture, Raf. I’m here to—”

“I don’t need your help,” he said, finally turning to her, his eyes dark. “And I don’t need the help of _that woman_ either—”

“Hey, now, Rose hasn’t done anything wrong,” Luisa said, punching her brother in the shoulder. “ _You_ sent her up to me, and she had every right to react the way she did. You were _wrong_ , Raf.”

“I was trying to help you.”

“Well, maybe you should take your own advice.” Luisa took a deep breath and swallowed. “Maybe I don’t need your help either.”

Rafael shook his head. “Lu, you are stuck up in that little town in the middle of nowhere—”

“I happen to _like_ that town—”

“—and you don’t come out unless something strikes you as _important_ enough to come _fix_.” He pounded the counter with the brunt of his palm. “I _know_ you lost your wife, but you didn’t lose the rest of us.”

Luisa pressed her lips together.

“You didn’t lose us and you act like you did.”

“And you think sending women up to me like Christmas presents every year was going to fix that?” Luisa didn’t snap because she wasn’t angry. She was hurt, but she wouldn’t argue with him. She could see that he was right. How he felt about all of this – and her own disappearance, hiding away in Longbourne – of course, that was her fault.

“I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. And now all of this is happening—”

“Rose will take care of that,” Luisa said, placing her hand on her brother’s shoulder again. “It’ll be okay.”

Raf took another, deeper breath. “Dad will be here, too.”

Luisa froze, and her eyes widened as she focused on her brother’s hunched over form. “What was that?”

“Dad. He’s coming. For Christmas?” Rafael looked up to meet Luisa’s eyes. “ _Someone_ told him that children start forming memories when they’re around three or four, so now he wants to spend time with the girls.” He sighed. “Now that they’re old enough to actually remember him.”

Luisa let out a deep breath. “I shouldn’t be here.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Rafael’s hold tightened on his glass. “He would be going to see you after New Year’s anyway.”

“Yes, but I’m infringing on your time with Dad.”

“You’re not infringing on anything, Lu.” Rafael’s shoulders rolled beneath Luisa’s touch. “He’ll get here tomorrow, too.”

“Everything with Elena should be done by then. She shouldn’t find anything.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Look, Raf,” Luisa started, her lips pressed together, “why don’t you and the girls come up to Longbourne? Dad and I will come with you, and Petra can take care of everything here. You know she’s better at the bureaucratic stuff than you are. It would be a good break for you, and the girls can have some time in the snow.”

Rafael’s brows furrowed. “That sounds like giving up.”

“It’s not,” Luisa said, lips curving into a smile. “It’s knowing your strengths, and right now, your best decision might be to not be here.” She sighed again and patted his back. “Discuss it with Petra. _Now._ And text me what you decide. We can go back early in the morning. You take your car, and I’ll take—”

She stopped, eyes wide.

“You’ll take _your_ car, right?”

“I, ah, used Rose’s car to get down here. The rental?” Luisa grinned. “But that shouldn’t matter. You, me, the kids – that’s five seats.”

“ _And Dad._ ”

“He can get a car and drive up to meet us. You know he’d do that to visit me anyway.”

“Or you would drive down to get him.”

Luisa’s teeth clenched firmly together, and she spoke through them, “ _You know he’d do that to visit me anyway._ ”

A laugh finally, _finally_ broke through Rafael’s lips. “Fine, fine.” His eyes were twinkling when he looked back at her. “I’ll take the girls up. _You_ stay here and explain to him why his trip to Longbourne is early.”

“Uh.”

Rafael laughed again, this time a little louder. “That’s the deal, Lu. If Petra decides to send me away, you have to stay and explain to Dad. You know it’ll sound better if you explain it, and that’ll give him time to…what is it he does? _Process?_ He won’t be as upset when he sees me.”

Luisa scowled and then nodded once. “Fine. _Fine._ If you come to Longbourne, I’ll stay behind and tell Dad what’s going on.”

“And drive him up.”

“…maybe.” Then she patted Rafael’s back again and stood up. “You talk with Petra. I’m going to go make sure my daughter’s in good hands.” She just grinned when Rafael’s eyes narrowed. “You only gave Rose and Allison one room to share. _Someone_ had to come stay with me.”

Rafael groaned. “I thought you and Allison broke up.”

“I didn’t say Allison.”

He groaned again. “That’s even _worse_.”

Luisa just smiled and then punched him in the arm. “And it’s _all._ _your. fault_. Aren’t you happy for me?”

“Happy for you? Yes. Happy? No.”

“Too bad,” Luisa laughed and then grew serious again as she walked to the door. “Talk to Petra.”

“Got it.” Rafael knocked on the counter with one knuckle. “Thanks for coming.”

“Of course,” Luisa said, her hand on the doorknob. “I’ll always come when my little brother needs me. You know that, right?”

“Yeah,” Raf said. “I know.”

“Good.” Luisa opened the door and backed out. “ _Talk to Petra._ ” She held up her two fingers, pointed them at her eyes, and then pointed them back at Raf.

“I’m going! I’m going!”

The last of his words were stuck in the room as the door shut behind her. Then she stood outside the door for a few moments, her hand flat against it, head lowered. She took a deep breath. Her eyes closed, and she took another breath. Then she opened them again and turned down the hallway to make it to her suite just one floor below.

On second thought, she wanted to take the stairs.

She wanted the extra time.

* * *

Truth be told, a part of Luisa was worried that Rose would be asleep when she returned to her room. No, worried wasn’t the right word for it – the feeling was a mixture of that and hope because she wasn’t sure how she would react if the other woman was still awake and yet, she _wanted_ her to be awake. She wasn’t sure how to straighten out the mixture of emotions whirling inside of her. But, then, she never really could.

The suite was silent when she got there, and she found Rose curled up on the bed next to Mia, who had fallen back asleep. Rose’s head twisted just enough to meet Luisa’s eyes, and she blinked a couple of times, before a smile – fond, easy – traced her lips. Then, as though realizing what she was doing and where she was, she stretched a little bit and moved off of the bed. “I believe this is _your_ spot.” She crossed over to Luisa and stopped just in front of her, not moving. “I thought it would be better to stay with her until you got back. I’ll go get your things now.”

“No,” Luisa said, her voice soft. “Stay, please.”

“Don’t you want your things?” Rose asked, blue eyes searching Luisa’s with a vague expression of curiosity.

“Later,” Luisa said, “tomorrow.” She reached up one hand and, without hesitating, cupped Rose’s face. Her thumb brushed carefully along the redhead’s cheekbone. “For now, stay with me.” Her eyes moved briefly over to Mia and then back to Rose. “In the other room.” Her hand dropped and took one of Rose’s, intertwining their fingers, and led her to the other room.

It was smaller – the bed was smaller – as she knew it would be, and she shut the door behind them. She drew Rose closer to her then leaned up to whisper in her ear, very gently, “No sleepwalking,” before drawing back to meet her eyes. “I don’t want you to disturb Mia.”

“Who’s going to stop me?” Rose asked, her voice a hush, her eyes growing dark.

Luisa took a deep breath and leaned up on her tiptoes, brushing her nose against Rose’s before saying, her voice still soft but firm:

“Me.”

* * *

Rose curled up a little tighter beneath the Marbella’s thousand count sheets, one arm laid across the form of the woman lying next to her. She placed her head on her chest, and Luisa began to thread her fingers through the bright red curls, their tips massaging her scalp. There wasn’t much room in the tiny bed – it wasn’t made for two adult bodies – so Rose was pressed against her while she lay flat on her back, her other hand curled beneath Luisa’s neck.

Through the window, if she turned her head, Luisa could see the sun just couching the ocean, the rosy pinks and lavenders fading and comingling into a soft blue stained with gauze-like white clouds, like a patch on a bleeding wound. Instead, she focused on the woman splayed across her, fingers still carded through her hair. “Merry Christmas Eve, Rose.”

Rose let out a soft groan, and the arm across Luisa’s waist tightened as her hand gripped Luisa’s side. “Don’t remind me.”

“You hate it _that_ much?” Luisa laughed and brushed her nose against Rose’s forehead.

“No,” Rose said, lifting her head just enough to meet Luisa’s eyes. “I just don’t want to see Elena for the first time in…years.” She sat up and brushed her hand through her hair just as soon as Luisa’s hands were removed from it. “Since before I quit.” Her lips curved to one side in half of a scowl. “We don’t get along.”

Luisa mostly paid attention, but she couldn’t stop her eyes from wandering to the strip of freckled skin that became exposed between Rose’s tank-top and her pink lace underwear. She swallowed once, licked her lips, and looked back up, trying to make sure she focused on Rose’s eyes instead of elsewhere. “So don’t stay.” Her phone buzzed on the bedside counter, and she pulled it over, brushing through her notifications until she found the one she was looking for. “Raf is taking the kids and going back up to Longbourne. You could go with him.”

“He’s what?” Rose asked, eyes narrowing. “Elena’s showing up, and he’s leaving?”

Luisa quickly read through the rest of her messages and then placed the phone back on the bedside table. “Petra’s going to take care of everything. Something about any indiscretions being an accidental misstep on his part, so he’s taking some time for himself while she addresses the issues.” She brushed a hand through her long dark hair and leaned back against the padded headboard, her eyes returning to Rose. “We thought that would be a good idea.”

“We?” This time Rose’s brows lifted as she propped herself up on one elbow.

Luisa gave her a half-hearted shrug. “My brother’s a wreck. He needs some time off.” She carded her fingers through Rose’s curls again. “And I thought it would be better for him to deal with everything _not_ in the public eye.” A smile lit her face. “Doesn’t that sound like a good idea?”

“A great one.” Rose sighed and leaned back against the headboard, too. “But I’m not going to drive up there with him. Your brother hates me.”

“He’d probably love to have another pair of eyes on the girls.”

“Too bad.” Rose turned to Luisa. “Aren’t you going with him?”

This time, it was Luisa’s turn to sigh. “No. I get to stay behind and wait for my dad to show up and drive _him_ up to Longbourne.” She grimaced. “And explain to him about your stepmother being here. And deal with his temper.” Her grimace softened into a frown. “He’s always so hard on Raf, and this is going to make things worse.”

“Your brother shouldn’t have been—”

“ _I know that._ ” Luisa punched Rose’s shoulder. “Quit bringing it up.”

“Okay.” Rose took one of Luisa’s hand in her own and tangled their fingers together. “So take me back with you.” She lifted Luisa’s hand and kissed her knuckles. “Your dad can’t go in on your brother as long as some random stranger is there.”

“I’m not sure I’d call you _some random stranger_.”

“What would you call me?”

Luisa paused, then, and searched Rose’s eyes. “What would you want to be called?” Her hand moved from Rose’s hair to trace her cheek. “Not Elena’s stepdaughter. A customer?”

Rose’s smile faltered as Luisa’s thumb brushed across her cheek. “You’ll figure it out.” Then she took Luisa’s hand from her cheek and leaned back to step out of bed. “I should go. I need to make sure everything’s ready for Elena.” She began to put her jeans back on.

“I’ll text you, before we leave, in case—”

“I’ll join you,” Rose said, returning to the bed and bending forward just enough to brush her nose against Luisa’s. “We can even take my car.”

“The rental?”

“Mmm.” Rose nodded. “Then you don’t have to unpack anything at all.”

* * *

Trying to convince Mia to get _back_ in the car and go _back_ to Longbourne was a much bigger task than Luisa’d imagined, but Mia gave in easily enough when she learned she would be traveling with her uncle and cousins instead of her mother. She’d had a bright grin on her face as they left and looked back through the rearview window, giving her mother a huge wave as the car drove off into the distance.

Rafael had given a little huff of displeasure before looking at Luisa with clear eyes and murmuring another thanks, promising that he wouldn’t let anything happen on the road. Luisa had kissed his forehead before stepping back and watching them leave.

Now she just needed to figure out what she was going to do for the next few hours while she waited for her father to arrive.

Well, she could think of _one_ thing she wanted to be doing.

She pulled the phone out of her back pocket and shot off a quick text to Rose, and a few minutes later, she grinned at the response.

 _Good!_ Good. She just needed to find the right room.

* * *

A few minutes later, Luisa stood outside Rose’s room with a platter full of breakfast food in one hand and a bowl of cereal in the other. She’d been a bit smart about this; Kix wasn’t available for regular customers, but Luisa knew the secret cupboard where she and Rafael had hidden things away if they wanted them personally. There was still a box hiding there – _almost_ past the good by date but not quite – and she had the box tucked beneath one arm in case Rose wanted more than the singular bowl. She rapped one hand against the door to the room, a grin on her face until the door opened.

“Well, look who’s here,” Allison said, leaning against the doorframe. “Looking for someone?”

“Yes, actually.” Luisa bit her lower lip. The other woman was wearing a smart business suit, her hair pulled back in a neat little pun and clipped in place. “You look nice.”

“I have an interview.” Allison didn’t wince as she said the words, but after speaking, her head tilted to one side. “Or, _not_ an interview. Rose is introducing me to Elena. She told me I could talk about your inn as an example of previous knowledge.”

Luisa’s eyes widened. “Oh, she did?” She shifted the breakfast platter in her hand. “Well, yeah, of course, you can. It’ll make you look good. More than you already do. Of course, you should talk about the inn.”

“You don’t mind?”

“No, of course not! It’s fine.” Luisa grinned, but there was nothing happy in that grin. “It’s _fine_ ,” she repeated. Then she glanced around Allison’s shoulder. “Can I come in? Rose said she would meet me here.”

“Oh, yeah. She’s just in the shower,” Allison said, pulling the door open and holding it for Luisa as she came in. Then she nodded toward the breakfast plate. “Can I have some of that? I did that _dumb thing_ where I got ready for the interview but didn’t eat first and now I’m _starving_ but if I tried to carry a plate like that all the way up here, I’d probably end up with food _all over me_.”

Luisa’s eyes focused on her food, and she nodded once. “We can share. Or I can go get more. Rose is in the shower?” she asked, a blush creeping across her face.

“Mmhm.” Allison nodded as she took one of the pieces of bacon from the plate, leaning over the counter towards it. “You’ve probably got enough time to get more before she gets out.”

“No, that’s fine.” Luisa lifted her spoon. “This cereal’ll be all soggy if I wait too long. I’ll just—”

“Were you the reason she didn’t come back last night?”

Luisa choked on her bite of cereal and spluttered a little bit, pounding on her chest with one fist until the food went down the right way. She took a deep breath. “What did you say?”

“Your reaction was enough.” Allison took another piece of bacon.

Luisa swatted at her. “You can’t take _all_ of the bacon.”

“Well, what else am I supposed to eat? I don’t want to get eggs down my shirt. Or gravy.”

“So you eat _carefully_ ,” Luisa said, then she grinned. “Or I could feed you like I feed Mia.”

“ _Please no_ ,” came another voice from one of the other rooms, and Luisa could feel her face heat up as Rose came into view. Her red hair was still dripping wet, and her freckles stood out stark against her pale skin. There were little red splotches here and there along her arms and where her chest was exposed, one of the Marbella’s towels wrapped around her with one end tucked in. “No feeders in my hotel room.”

“ _Ew._ ” Allison immediately stepped back from what was left of the breakfast, her hands up in the air, palms out. “I’m done. _I’m done._ You two do whatever you want. I’ll be in the bedroom. Or…somewhere else. _Somewhere else_ sounds good.” Her eyes met Rose’s briefly. “I’ll meet you downstairs? You’ll still introduce me, right?”

“Of course. That’s the entire reason I brought you.”

A smile lit Allison’s face, and she gave Rose a little nod. Then she gave Luisa a wink and walked back out of the hotel room.

Luisa let out a deep breath. “That was so awkward.” She held a hand up to her forehead and held it there before pushing it back over her head and holding it there. “I’m so glad she’s gone. I mean,” and here she looked up, meeting Rose’s eyes, “I’m not glad she’s _gone_ , I’m just glad we’re not in the same room anymore, because that felt—”

“—bad?” Rose asked.

“Yes. Bad.” Luisa nodded, and then her face lit up. “Here,” she pushed the bowl in Rose’s direction. “Kix. Or, ah, really soggy Kix. You took a long time in the shower.” She pulled the box over and put it next to the bowl. “Here’s more.”

Rose’s eyes widened, and before Luisa could react, Rose bent down and pressed a kiss to her cheek. Then she took the box and filled the bowl with more Kix. “ _This_ is why it pays to have contacts in the hotel business. You know where everything is.”

Luisa’s brows lifted briefly, and she laughed, trying to cover the heat darkening her cheeks. “You’re welcome.” She took the plate Allison had been picking at and started eagerly on her own food. Her eyes widened as Rose sat down on the stool next to her, the towel riding up just enough to expose a good chunk of her thigh. “You’re not,” Luisa swallowed once, “um,” her lips pressed together, “you’re not going to change before you eat?”

Rose turned to Luisa, followed her eyes to her thigh, and then looked back up, lips spreading in a wicked grin. “Am I bothering you?”

“No.”

“My eyes are up here.” Rose broke the small distance between them and lifted Luisa’s chin with one finger so that their eyes met. “Besides, you’ve already seen this.” She glanced down to her thighs and back up, holding Luisa’s gaze. “This isn’t anything new.” Her eyes widened then, as though wounded. “Or were you not paying attention?”

“Oh, I was,” Luisa said, and she resisted the urge to look back down again. She swallowed again. “I told you it wasn’t bothering me.”

“Mmhm,” Rose murmured, dropping her finger and returning to her cereal. “So why tell me I should go change?”

“Just a thought.”

Luisa tore her eyes away from Rose’s face and forced herself to focus on her food instead. Eggs. She could focus on eggs. That was easy enough. You know. Eggs. Right there. On the plate.

Good job, Luisa.

“It’s a nice thought.” Rose bent over and kissed Luisa’s cheek again, and Luisa couldn’t help but blush. “What are you going to do while you wait for your father to arrive?” she asked, returning to her cereal.

Luisa shrugged. “I thought I could spend some time with you, but if you’re introducing Elena to Allison—”

“That won’t take too long,” Rose said. “Elena doesn’t like me around while she interrogates a hotel. It’s why I was the snitch; I was always gone by the time she got there, so no one would know I was involved.” She shrugged. “She won’t be happy that I’m here at all, but there isn’t much I can do about that.” She leaned back in her chair, stretching her arms out in front of her and popping her knuckles.

“You two don’t have a good relationship.”

“No.” Rose smiled but didn’t look at Luisa. “In fact, if she finds those nutcrackers, she’ll probably—”

“She won’t find them.” Luisa reached over without thinking to place her hand – _in a moment of comfort_ – on Rose’s leg. It was only once her hand was on her bare skin that she froze, her face falling, eyes wide. But she didn’t move her hand, stuck between deciding whether to continue the act of comfort or breaking the contact that could be considered—

Rose’s smile seems to relax, to be less forced, and one of her hands finds its way to the one on her leg and covers it, holding it there. “It’s okay. I know you’ll take care of them. In fact….” Her lips pressed together, and her eyes narrowed, unfocused. “Keep them. Mia will have more fun with them than I do.”

“ _No._ ” Luisa shook her head. “No.”

“They shouldn’t be in a—”

“ _No_ ,” Luisa repeated. She removed her hand from Rose’s thigh and brought it back to her lap. Her fingers began to fiddle together. “That’s too big. I don’t want that from you if you’re just going to leave.”

Rose nodded once. She tugged her lower lip between her teeth, and then she stood up. “I’d better get ready for Elena.” One hand pushes through her slowly frizzing red curls. “She hates these.”

“Why?” Luisa asked, eyes wide. “They’re beautiful.”

“They’re wild,” Rose said with a little laugh. “Elena _hates_ wild.” She brushed her hands along the towel. “Did you want to wait in here?”

Luisa shook her head before turning to meet Rose’s eyes. “I’ll go ahead and load your car. Then, when you’re done with Elena, we can....” Her voice faded. There was a lot to do in Miami – and there was a lot to do at the Marbella – but there wasn’t much to do while waiting for her dad to arrive at the airport.

“We’ll figure something out.”

* * *

Rose had the fine work of making herself appear cultivated and crafted down to an art. Even if it had been years since she’d needed to use it for anything more than personal reasons (primarily attracting another woman, as she had with Luisa for the Christmas Ball) and even if, in most of those cases, it hadn’t been something she’d needed to do speedily, she’d never quite lost the ability. It took only a matter of minutes to style her hair, perfect her make-up, and find an outfit that Elena would consider worth of her appearance.

Luisa may have been moving their things to Rose’s rental car, but she was there to see the final result. Her reaction alone was almost worth the trouble of Elena’s arrival – similar to the not-quite jaw-dropping of the Christmas Ball and the suit, with wide hazel eyes, the slow lick of her lips, and that quiet moment of appraisal. It sent something warm spiraling in Rose’s chest, and she couldn’t keep herself from asking, from prompting Luisa to verbalize her thoughts, “What do you think?”

Because Rose might not _need_ the verbal validation when Luisa was so blatantly screaming her approval and desire visually, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t want to hear it.

“I don’t like it,” Luisa said, her voice very hesitant, very careful.

Rose raised one eyebrow. “You’re certainly acting like you like it.”

But Luisa shook her head, biting her lower lip. “You said you didn’t want to look like a princess.”

“I don’t.”

“Well, like this,” Luisa gestured with one hand to Rose’s outfit, “you kind of look like one.”

_Oh._

Rose hadn’t thought of it that way, hadn’t considered that in the low cut white dress she’d appear as something other than the person Luisa had come to know over the past few days. She felt the smile before it spread to her lips, and ashamed of her reaction, she lowered her head in an attempt to hide it. “It’s still me. Just the me Elena likes.”

“I can see why you don’t like her.”

It was only then that Rose’s eyes lifted and she met Luisa’s once more. “Are you getting defensive, Ms. Alver?”

Luisa gave an involuntary shudder. “Don’t _call_ me that. It feels _wrong_.”

Rose couldn’t help but grin, and she reached forward, brushing a hand through Luisa’s hair. “Fine. I won’t do it again.”

“Thank you.” Luisa stepped back away from Rose’s touch. “Now _go_. The sooner you go, the sooner you can change into…into _you_ again.” Her hands felt weak, and they moved as though she were trying to express something – a flailing, almost. “Change out of _this_.”

“I’ll find you at the car.”

“Of course.” Luisa watched as Rose left the room, and this time when she tugged on her lower lip, it was with something more akin to worry than to attraction.

* * *

Rose found Allison in the main lobby, sitting in one of the chairs, fingers tapping a little rhythm on her tan pants leg. She moved to sit next to her and reached over. As soon as her hand touched Allison’s, though, the girl pulled her fingers away.

“What are you doing?” Allison said, her voice a snippy hush. She gave Rose a rough glare, her face flushed.

“Trying to get you to calm down.” Rose moved her hand away from Allison’s leg, then she clasped her hands together in her lap, her ankles crossed and her legs to one side. “Elena picks up on nervous fidgeting. She’ll mark you down for it.”

“I thought you said this was a sure thing.”

“No.” Rose shook her head. “ _Nothing_ is sure with Elena. But trust me,” Rose let her eyes meet Allison’s, “you’ll be fine.”

Allison tore her eyes away from Rose’s. Her glance began to roam the room, and it seemed like it was trying to find something – anything – that she could deem safe enough for it to rest on. “How are you so sure?”

“I’m not. But I know a good risk when I see one.” Rose shrugged once. “Besides, if it doesn’t work, you can just go back to delivering pizzas. No harm, no foul.” She waved a hand. “Now – keep your cool.” Her head nodded towards the front doors. “She’s here.”

Elena strode through the front doors – a tall, thin Italian woman with waves of brown hair and in an impeccable little black dress, her heels giving her the additional height she would need to appear intimidating even around hotel owners like Rafael Solano, who stood head and shoulders above her. She walked with the air of an empress returning to her empire, only without the little chihuahua on a leash that would complete the appearance. One hand lifted her sunglasses as she saw Rose, and she paused next to her, eyes slowly taking her in.

“You’re here.”

“Where else would I be?” Rose asked, eyes meeting Elena’s. “I heard you were coming to town, and I thought it might be nice to see you, considering the holidays.” Her eyes glanced away, and she let out a sigh. “I know you’d rather I was Derek, but….” And here her lips pressed together, eyes wide. “Where _is_ Derek? I’m surprised you left him and his family so close to Christmas. Doesn’t his wife want to see you?”

Elena’s teeth gritted together in a way that Rose often unconsciously mimicked, and her head tilted to one side. “Work comes first, darling. I thought you understood that.”

“Oh, of course.” Rose gave a gentle nod. “ _This_ ,” she said, gesturing to the girl next to her, “is Allison. I’ve noticed none of your replacements have been near as profitable for your business as I was, and she knows enough of the ins and outs of the hotel business to be of use to you.” She blinked once but did not grin.

Elena looked Allison over and took a short breath. “You remember my qualifications?”

“Of course I do. You will find that she meets them perfectly.”

Up to and including _young enough to be malleable to the business and Elena’s needs_. Well, one of those was perhaps applicable – Allison was young enough to be able to make a career of the business in a way that Rose would never have wanted, and while she certainly would bring her own head and desires to her potential job, those shouldn’t conflict with Elena’s until far enough along that Elena would want to avoid outright firing her.

Two birds with one stone, after all.

Elena gave Allison another once over. Then she let her sunglasses drop into place and crooked one finger in Allison’s direction. “You. Come along with me. You can show me what you know while I deal with this hotel owner’s indiscretions.” She gave Rose a single nod and then passed her by.

Allison looked in Rose’s direction, and Rose waved her off. “Go,” she whispered. “You’ll impress her. Just do what she says, and you’ll be just fine.”

Then Allison nodded once and got up from her seat, following after Elena.

Rose watched from afar as Elena mentioned her name to the man at the counter and stayed in her seat just long enough for Petra to come out, glance over Elena’s shoulder and meet her eyes in silent acknowledgement, and then focus entirely on the woman in front of her. Then Rose got up from her seat and headed back to her own room to change, to leave the key behind for Allison for whenever she might want to check out.

Everything here was going as smoothly as it possibly could. They didn’t need her anymore.

* * *

Rephrase: Everything here was _not_ going as smoothly as possible and they _definitely_ still needed her.

Rose made her way back downstairs in jeans and an old plaid flannel sweater (the same black, red, and white one that Luisa had chosen for her the day after they met) – most of her things had already been removed from the room she’d been sharing with Allison – she’d checked this time to make sure because she didn’t want anything valuable accidentally left behind the way the nutcrackers had been left in Longbourne, and the only thing left for her was her little grey cardboard box – only to find a commotion at the front counter.

Elena was gesturing wildly, her jaw clenched so tightly that her jaw jumped under her skin, and it was to Rose she turned as soon as she noticed her in the hallway. Her sunglasses now rested atop her caramel brown hair; her dark brown eyes flashed even darker. “You sent him away.” It wasn’t even an angry yell, just a deeply disappointed purr of a sound.

“I sent _who_ away?”

“ _Rafael._ ” Elena reached out and took Rose’s wrist a little too tightly, her manicured nails pushing into Rose’s pale skin. “Where is he?”

Rose tugged on her arm, but Elena held firm. “What does it matter?” She knew better than to grimace, even as Elena’s nails dug deeper. “Petra’s here. She owns the hotel. You can deal with her just as easily as you could—”

“Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do, _Clara_ ,” Elena hissed, and she twisted Rose’s arm just enough for Rose to grit her teeth together.

“I’d suggest,” Rose said, instead, through her teeth, “that you don’t do this in public.” Her eyes flicked up to meet her stepmother’s. “You have an audience.” Her gaze moved over to survey the people around them, none of whom were looking in their direction _yet_.

Elena had mastered the art of making a scene without being seen, in part because Rose had learned never to take what she was given and exacerbate it. Getting her stepmother kicked out of a hotel for public issues had only gotten her more hurt later on. It had been far easier to let her do something like this than to fight it. And as long as Rose hadn’t reacted, Elena hadn’t been seen.

But this time, someone was watching. Not Petra, who was still talking with Allison but who had her phone out, probably calling Rafael, and not Allison, who was caught up in whatever she was doing with Petra, but Luisa, who had just returned inside the hotel with a bald man with a short white beard in tow. Her father? _Had to be._

Luisa’s eyes – so dark from far away – were wide and focused completely on her, but her father’s were equally as focused on Elena.

And when Rose looked up, Elena’s were focused on him.

“Elena?”

The bald man spoke first, and at his voice, Elena dropped Rose’s wrist without a second thought. She stood up, brushed her hands along her little black dress, and said to Rose, her voice a quiet hush, “Keep your mouth shut, Clara, and let me handle this.”

By this point in time, Luisa was close enough to hear what Elena was saying, and she took Rose’s wrist in her hand as Elena passed them both by, heading towards the bald man. Luisa brushed her fingers along the marks on Rose’s wrist. One of them came away sticky with blood. Her eyes looked up to meet Rose’s. “That’s your stepmother?”

Rose pressed her lips together and nodded. She winced as Luisa continued to check her wrist. “That’s your dad?”

“Yeah.”

They watched as Elena approached the man, her lips curving into a fake smile. “Emilio. What a pleasure to see you.”

The man’s expression turned into a scowl. “You know you aren’t allowed in any of my hotels.”

“What a joy.” Elena let out a sigh, taking her sunglasses from the crown of her head and tucking them into her purse. “This isn’t one of _your_ hotels, Emilio. It’s Rafael’s. And I would like to see my son.”

“I _knew_ she looked familiar!” Luisa said, turning to face Rose, who was surprised but had gotten so used to not showing any shock or surprise that she was certain she looked as though nothing had fazed her at all. “ _Wait_ ,” and here Luisa paused, eyes looking over Rose curiously, “that doesn’t make _us_ related, does it?”

“I’m not biologically her daughter, and _you’re_ not biologically her daughter, so I think we’re fine.”

Emilio stepped closer to Elena. “You aren’t supposed to see _him_ either. Wasn’t that our agreement?”

“What agreement?” Rose whispered to Luisa.

“I don’t know. I was eleven when she left, and there were a _lot_ of other wives after her, so I figured she just got tired of Dad.” Luisa shrugged. “I was surprised she left Raf, but it wasn’t really an issue.”

Elena’s head tilted to one side. “I haven’t seen him _yet_.”

“Good,” Emilio responded, “because if you did, you would be in _violation_ of that agreement, wouldn’t you?” His tone suggested that his words were less a question and more a prodding. “And you know what happens if you break our agreement.”

All at once, Elena’s face froze. Her smile stayed pasted in place, but it was obviously a fake by this point.

“So you do remember.” Emilio clapped his hands together. “I’d suggest you leave now, before I call the police.”

Elena’s teeth gritted together, and she left without a second look back, dragging her rolling suitcase behind her.

It was only once she’d left that Rose let her eyes wander back around the room again. Petra was watching them curiously, but as soon as her eyes met Rose’s, she went back to her phone call as though nothing had happened. Allison’s eyes were wide, but they narrowed in frustration when she caught Rose looking at her.

Ok, so setting Allison up with a job with Elena wasn’t the _best_ idea.

But then Allison pushed past her and chased after Elena as though nothing had happened at all. The move was surprising even for Rose, but then again, maybe Allison was so desperate to leave at this point that it didn’t matter _who_ she was leaving with. Or maybe, if the girl played her cards right – and Rose believed that she could, if she tried – she was just using Elena as an excuse to fly somewhere else and start a life there. Maybe she’d even find herself her own little yodeling redhead.

Not that any of that mattered.

Emilio walked up to Luisa and then turned from her to Rose. “And who is this charming young lady?”

“This is Rose,” Luisa said, and she took a deep breath. “She’s a friend of mine, and she’s coming back up to Longbourne with us.” She tugged Rose away from Emilio. “And right now, I need to make sure she gets these cuts cleaned up. We’ll be right back, okay, Dad?”

Emilio gave a stern nod and then walked over to the counter, where he began to talk with Petra. Rose barely caught a hint of their conversation as Luisa dragged her to the nearest staff bathroom and locked the door behind them. Then Luisa dropped Rose’s hand. “Wash it while I get the—”

“You don’t have to do that. Elena’s done this so many times that one more won’t hurt.”

Luisa glanced back with an angry look, and she looked down at the nail prints on Rose’s wrist. “Wash them.”

Rose obeyed her without any further response. Her wrist stung as she cleaned the wounds, and when she was done, it stung even more when Luisa poured rubbing alcohol over it. She hissed through her teeth. “Is that really necessary?”

“No, _Clara_ , it’s not.”

“Rose.”

Luisa pressed her lips together then took another deep breath. “Why didn’t you _warn_ me?”

“Warn you of what?” Rose clenched her other hand into a little fist. “You weren’t supposed to see her. I didn’t think she would…I didn’t think she would have _reason_ to….” She pressed her lips together and didn’t say anything more.

There was silence, then, as Luisa began to bandage the cuts on Rose’s wrist.

Finally, Rose said, “Do you still want me going back to Longbourne with you?” Her voice was a soft little hush.

“Of course, I—” Luisa’s voice cut off almost as soon as she started, and she pressed her lips together. “I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do,” she said finally, not looking up at Rose. “I know you’re only here for the holidays, and I know now that your stepmother’s gone you can stay here and spend your time hooking up with any of the hundreds of girls who are here in Miami and I know that’s probably what you would rather do anyway and—”

Rose leaned forward so that their noses just touched, but before she could move any closer, Luisa put a hand on her chest and pushed her back.

“You are not going to kiss me for the first time in a staff bathroom in my brother’s hotel.”

“Well, it seemed like the proper moment.”

Luisa looked up and finally met Rose’s eyes. “It’s Christmas Eve. I can think of a much better occasion for this.”

“Oh?” Rose asked, and she broke into her own little grin. “And what might that be?”

* * *

The drive to Longbourne wasn’t as long as Rose remembered, but that may have been because before she was driving up in the snow, angry, jetlagged, and by herself, and on the drive back to the Marbella she had been almost as upset and with an even angrier backseat driver and a morose girl in the passenger seat. This time, she and Luisa sat in the backseat while Luisa’s father drove them, Petra sitting in the passenger seat next to him. After a little more explanation, their conversation felt light and happy, and it reminded her of Christmas with her mother.

When they arrived, Petra went to explain to Rafael what had happened, and Emilio disappeared with his suitcase, assuring them that he would be back with his family in a few minutes. This left Luisa and Rose alone, and instead of spending their time in the common area, they walked outside, to the back of the inn, where Mia and Luisa’s little snow family with the little snow dog still remained standing.

Rose took Luisa’s hand in her own and tangled their fingers together. She smiled as she watched their breath turn into clouds and puff together. “So,” she said, finally, “you were supposed to tell me a better place for our first kiss?”

Luisa stopped her a few feet away from the snow family and grinned. “Look up.”

Rose did only to find that – as she had not noticed before – Luisa had strung up a makeshift piece of mistletoe. She looked back own at her hotel owner with a curious smile. “Mistletoe? Really?” Then she leaned forward and brushed their noses together again. “Okay?” she asked, her voice very soft.

Luisa nodded, smiling as the action only brushed their noses together again, and without hesitation, she reached up and cupped Rose’s cheek, pushing her hand back through her curls. She leaned forward. Her lips just grazed Rose’s, and then, all at once, it was like nothing had been keeping them apart.

The kiss was gentle, but not so gentle as to be wholly chaste, and when Luisa pulled away, Rose chased after her, pressing their lips together again. The world was still silent outside when they finally parted, and the bright smile on Luisa’s face spread quickly to Rose’s as well.

“I don’t think you’ll mind if I extend my stay, will you?”

“No. Not at all.”

Rose looked up just enough to see Emilio inside the inn in what looked to be a Santa Claus outfit, the girls running around and excited to see him, and Mia turned her head just enough to see Rose and Luisa outside and gave them a big grin and an equally big wave. On an impulse, Rose bent forward and kissed Luisa again, and this time when she pulled back, Mia was pounding on the window pane and pointing excitedly, waving her hands for her aunt and uncle to come look.

“You think they’ll take care of the kids for us for a little bit?”

“Mmmm,” Luisa hummed, and she kissed Rose again. “It’s Christmas Eve. I think Rafael would call it his Christmas present.”

Rose just laughed and gave Luisa another kiss, and Luisa kissed her back. “Maybe for _more_ than a little bit,” she said finally, and that was just what happened.

The next morning, Rose moved her nutcrackers on full display over the fireplace in Luisa’s suite, and it seemed as though she’d never been happier.


End file.
